SINGAPORE, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Singapore reported fewer phishing cases in 2025, but authorities warned the decline may not reflect the true scale of the threat, with artificial intelligence (AI) making phishing and scams increasingly convincing.
About 4,800 phishing attempts were reported to the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore in 2025, down 21 percent from 6,100 in 2024 and 44 percent from the 2022 peak of 8,500, according to the agency's Singapore Cyber Landscape 2025/2026 report released on Tuesday.
However, the agency said the reported figures likely understate the extent of phishing activity, as many incidents go unreported, particularly when they do not result in financial losses.
"AI is also reshaping phishing and scam operations by enabling threat actors to generate convincing phishing lures at scale, produce realistic voice clones and video deepfakes, and develop tools capable of bypassing multi-factor authentication," the agency said.
The banking and financial services sector remained the most frequently spoofed industry for the fourth consecutive year, accounting for 70 percent of all reported phishing attempts.
Based on reported cases in 2025, threat actors most often impersonated Japanese financial institutions that were likely unfamiliar to most consumers in Singapore, the agency said.
Government entities and logistics were the next most frequently spoofed sectors. ■
