This is a new initiative from the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) where they are partnering up with local telcos, to help Singaporeans increase their awareness of potential scam calls — many of which originate overseas.
This initiative is applicable to everyone where starting April 15, 2020, calls you receive from local numbers will no longer carry a ‘+’ prefix on your caller ID screen only calls from abroad (including those from local numbers made overseas) will.
This new method was announced and this method is among other measures by Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information Janil Puthucheary, in his parliamentary speech on Tuesday (Mar. 3) during the Ministry of Communications and Information’s (MCI) Committee of Supply debate.
In case you didn’t know, according to the 2019 Singapore Police Force (SPF) Annual Crime Brief, there are more than S$21 million was reported to have been lost to impersonation scams in Singapore in 2019.
If you’re still lost and wondering how does it works then here is some ellaboration:
The “+” sign prefix will be displayed on phone screens for all international incoming calls.
For example, + 4241 2345.
Local calls will not appear with the “+” prefix.
Instead, they’ll just be displayed like this: 6955 0221, for instance.
Got it. No rocket science but it’s a easy to understand. We would say this is a good initiative as you now, there are some many spam cases and hopefully with this implementation will reduce the scam!