Where to Get Help in Singapore: Helplines, Services, and Legal Options

Your phone lights up at 11pm with a message that makes your stomach drop. A stranger has your home address. They have posted a manipulated photo of you on a forum and your work email is in the caption. If you are in immediate physical danger or believe someone is about to harm you, call the Singapore Police Force at 999. Do it now. This is the only step that cannot wait. Everything else you can do in the next hour or the next day. This directory lists every support channel for digital harm in Singapore: cyberbullying, sextortion, impersonation scams, doxxing. It tells you which service to call, what it actually does, and which law gives it authority.

Cyberbullying in Singapore has a dedicated first-response service and a separate legal track. The two work differently, and you may need both.

TOUCH Cyber Wellness (TOUCHline)

TOUCH Community Services runs the national Singapore cyberbullying helpline for children, teenagers, and parents. Call 1800-377-2252 between 09:00 and 18:00 Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays. The service is free and confidential. Counselors help with online harassment, cyberbullying, sextortion, and online grooming. They do not file police reports on your behalf. If the bullying involves threats or sexual exploitation, they will guide you to the Singapore Police Force. The helpline also provides school-based workshops and parent resources through the TOUCH Cyber Wellness programme, which works with the Media Literacy Council and the Ministry of Education.

Protection From Harassment Act (POHA) And The Courts

If the harassment is severe or repeated, apply for a protection order under the Protection from Harassment Act (POHA), last amended in 2019. POHA criminalises doxxing, cyberbullying, and online harassment. The Protection from Harassment Court hears applications for protection orders and expedited protection orders. An expedited protection order can be issued within days if the court finds that the harassment is likely to cause harassment, alarm, or distress. You do not need a lawyer to apply, but legal aid is available through the Law Society Pro Bono Services. Filing a POHA application is separate from making a police report. You can do both. The Singapore Statutes Online website publishes the full text of the Act at sso.agc.gov.sg.

Singapore's online safety framework includes a government regulator, platform-level reporting tools, and a public education programme. Each addresses a different layer of the problem.

IMDA Code Of Practice For Online Safety

Since July 2023, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) requires designated social media services to minimise exposure to harmful content and provide user reporting tools. The designated services are Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, and HardwareZone. This is the IMDA Code of Practice for Online Safety. If you see illegal content such as child sexual abuse material, doxxing, or content that incites violence, report it directly to the platform first. The platform is legally obliged to respond. If the platform does not act, escalate to IMDA through its online safety resources page. The IMDA Digital for Life portal at digitalforlife.gov.sg lists additional resources for parents and educators.

Media Literacy Council And S.U.R.E.

The Media Literacy Council (mlc.sg) publishes guides on screen time, cyber wellness, and identifying false information. The National Library Board's S.U.R.E. programme (Source, Understand, Research, Evaluate) teaches a repeatable four-step verification sequence. The S.U.R.E. website at sure.nlb.gov.sg includes resources specifically for identifying AI-generated images. These tools do not replace reporting channels. They help you recognise harm before it escalates.

Service	Contact Method	Hours	What It Does	Legal Basis
Singapore Police Force Emergency	999	24 hours	Responds to immediate danger and criminal offences	Penal Code, POHA
Singapore Police Force Non-Emergency	1800-255-0000	24 hours	Takes reports on scams, harassment, and online crimes	Penal Code, POHA
TOUCH Cyber Wellness (TOUCHline)	1800-377-2252	Mon-Fri 09:00-18:00	Counseling for cyberbullying, sextortion, online grooming	Ministry of Social and Family Development
Anti-Scam Command Helpline	1800-722-6688	24 hours	Advice on scams and referral to investigation units	Singapore Police Force
ScamShield Bot (WhatsApp)	+65 7090 9888	24 hours	Check if a message, link, or number is a reported scam	Open Government Products, GovTech
Samaritans of Singapore (SOS)	1-767	24 hours	Emotional support for distress, including online harm	Registered charity
Institute of Mental Health (IMH)	6389-2222	24 hours	Crisis counselling for severe emotional distress	Ministry of Health
POHA Protection from Harassment Court	See sso.agc.gov.sg	Court hours	Issues protection orders and expedited protection orders	Protection from Harassment Act
IMDA Online Safety Reporting	imda.gov.sg	Business hours	Escalates platform non-compliance on harmful content	IMDA Code of Practice for Online Safety
PDPC Data Protection Complaint	pdpc.gov.sg	Business hours	Handles complaints about misuse of personal data	Personal Data Protection Act

If you or someone you know is being sexually exploited online, call the Singapore Police Force at 999 first if the person is a minor or if there is an immediate threat. The TOUCH Cyber Wellness contact line at 1800-377-2252 is the designated helpline for counselling on sextortion and online grooming. Counselors are trained to handle cases where a victim has been coerced into sending explicit images and the perpetrator threatens to release them. The service does not replace a police report, sextortion is a criminal offence under the Penal Code and the Protection from Harassment Act, but it provides immediate emotional support and practical next steps. The Institute of Mental Health helpline at 6389-2222 operates 24 hours for crisis counselling if the distress is severe. The Samaritans of Singapore hotline at 1-767 and its CareText service on WhatsApp at +65 9151 1767 are available 24 hours for anyone in suicidal crisis. Use them if the emotional toll of online harm becomes overwhelming.

What Happens After A Police Report For Sextortion

The Singapore Police Force Anti-Scam Command investigates sextortion cases that involve financial demands. If the perpetrator demands money in exchange for not releasing images, the offence is both a scam and a sexual offence. The police will advise on preserving evidence: screenshots, chat logs, call records. They may issue a protection order. Do not delete any messages, even if they are distressing. Evidence is the only way to secure a conviction. Do not pay the demand. Paying does not guarantee the images will not be released, and it marks you as a target for repeat extortion.

The Protection from Harassment Act provides the main legal mechanism for victims of online harassment. If you are being doxxed, your personal information posted publicly without consent, or subjected to repeated cyberbullying, apply to the Protection from Harassment Court for a protection order. This order prohibits the harasser from continuing the behaviour. For urgent cases, apply for an expedited protection order. The court can issue it within days. The application process is documented on the Singapore Statutes Online website. You do not need a lawyer, but the Law Society Pro Bono Services provides free legal advice for eligible applicants. The court can also order the harasser to remove content and pay damages. POHA legal help is available to citizens, permanent residents, and foreigners living in Singapore. If the harasser is overseas, the situation is more complex: a Singapore court order may not be enforceable in another jurisdiction. Seek legal advice from the Law Society or a private solicitor.

Scams are the most common form of online harm in Singapore by volume. In 2024, the Singapore Police Force recorded 55,810 scam cases with total losses of at least SGD 1.1 billion. The highest number of cases were job scams. The highest losses came from investment scams. If you have been scammed, or think you are being scammed, these three channels are your primary resources.

Anti-Scam Command Helpline

Call 1800-722-6688, 24 hours a day. The Anti-Scam Command is a centralised police unit that investigates scams and publishes scam typologies. Operators can advise whether a message, call, or website is a known scam and can refer you to the right investigation branch. They will not block your bank account for you. That requires a separate call to your bank's fraud department. But they will tell you exactly what to do next.

ScamShield App And Bot

ScamShield is a free app developed by Open Government Products and released in 2020. It filters scam SMS messages and blocks scam calls on iOS and Android. The ScamShield Bot on WhatsApp at +65 7090 9888 lets you forward a suspicious message, link, or phone number and receive an instant verdict from the reported-scam database. In 2024, ScamShield integrated Singpass face verification to allow users to verify the identity of government officials and trusted contacts. If someone claiming to be a government officer calls you, use ScamShield to confirm their identity. The app does not block all scams. It relies on its database being up to date. But it is the most effective single tool available.

ScamAlert And ACT Against Scams

The National Crime Prevention Council runs the ScamAlert website at scamalert.sg, which publishes current scam warnings and typology breakdowns. The ScamAlert WhatsApp channel at +65 8800 0555 sends regular scam advisories. The council's ACT Against Scams campaign, launched in 2020, teaches three steps: Add security features such as ScamShield, Check for signs like unsolicited requests for money or personal data, and Tell authorities by calling the Anti-Scam Command or your bank.

SMS Sender ID Registry

Since 2023, the IMDA has operated the SMS Sender ID Registry, which allows organisations to register their sender IDs. Legitimate SMS from registered organisations show a "#" symbol before the sender name. Any SMS from a government agency or bank that does not show the "#" prefix is likely spoofed. Do not click any link in such a message.

This directory is for anyone in Singapore who needs to know exactly which helpline to call, which law applies, and what happens next. It suits the everyday Singaporean who receives a forwarded scam message and wants the official contact, not a guess. It suits parents whose child has been doxxed on a school chat group. It suits the small-business owner who just transferred money to a fake supplier. It suits the 22-year-old whose ex posted their private photos online. Skip it if you are looking for political commentary on Singapore's internet laws, activist calls to action, or general media literacy theory without Singapore-specific contacts. Those readers should go directly to the Singapore Police Force, the POFMA Office, the Personal Data Protection Commission, or a global resource such as the News Literacy Project. The most common mistake people make when they are being harassed or scammed is waiting: waiting to see if it stops, waiting to tell a friend, waiting until morning. Call the helpline that matches your situation tonight.