Singapore is literally taking matters into its own hands by enforcing corporal punishment on online scammers.
After losing almost $3 billion (USD) to scam artists between 2020 and September 2025, Singapore is imposing strict penalties on those looking to exploit their victims online.
Bad actors will now get a minimum of six lashings and a maximum of 24 strokes of the cane if they’ve been found to be scamming people in the country.
Caning will be introduced for scammers and scam mules, those who help aid scammers with things like credentials and SIM cards.
“In this Bill, we are proposing to introduce mandatory caning for scammers, as well as members of and recruiters for scam syndicates,” the government said.
“We will also introduce discretionary caning for those who facilitate scams by providing enablers such as their Singpass credentials, SIM cards, or bank accounts,” the Singaporean government said.
Those who conduct scams, which is defined by the government as “cheating mainly by means of remote communication,” will be punished by at least six whips of the cane, the government has said.
Countries across the world have “unique” ways to deal with thieves and scammers.
A court in Sudan, North Africa, sentenced three men to hand amputations for stealing in 2023, The Guardian reported at the time. However, it was the first time hand amputations have been passed by the Sudanese court in almost a decade.
It’s more commonplace in Iran, where at least several people had their fingers cut off for stealing in recent years. In one recent case, Iranian authorities used a guillotine machine to amputate the fingers of a man convicted of theft, according to Amnesty International.
In another case, a man also had his fingers amputated without giving him anaesthetic. Human rights advocates described this as “judicially-sanctioned torture,” which is a crime under international law.
There are around 26 countries where corporal punishment can be a legal sentence, including Singapore, Maldives, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
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