The Singapore Police Force (SPF) held the grand finals of the Anti-Scam and Cybersecurity Makeathon on 14 April 2023. This marked the end of a four-month long intensive tabletop game creation competition, organised in conjunction with the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) and the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC). This competition aims to empower students to become advocates and active drivers to develop solutions to tackle scams and cybercrime.
The Anti-Scam and Cybersecurity Makeathon marks a significant milestone in SPF’s community engagement efforts and demonstrates our commitment in working with the public to fight crime. SPF looks forward to working more closely with the community to developing an active, vigilant, and empowered community.
As part of our ongoing efforts to work with the community to fight crime, the Anti-scam and Cybersecurity Makeathon aims to:
- Equip students with knowledge on the modus operandi of the latest scam and cybercrime trends, as well as how they can protect themselves from becoming a victim;
- Encourage them to be advocates in their day-to-day lives. SPF encourages students to impart the knowledge they have learnt – as empowered members of the community – to others, and to inspire them to better protect themselves and their loved ones from scams and cybercrime; and
- Enable them to be active drivers for the co-creation of solutions to combat scam and cybercrime. By giving students the autonomy to research, conceptualise and develop their own tabletop games, SPF aims to bring students together as part of a citizen-led effort to achieve a scam-smart nation.
Grand Finals of Anti-Scam and Cybersecurity Makeathon
Modelled after hackathons that involve stakeholders in the ideation and co-creation of solutions, the Anti-scam and Cybersecurity Makeathon is a four-month long tabletop game creation competition for secondary school students in uniformed groups. By gamifying the process of scam public education and giving students the autonomy to develop their own games, it is hoped that the students would be able to gain a deeper understanding on the intricacies of scams and cybercrime, and to be advocates in their day-to-day lives as empowered members of the community.
The grand finals of the Anti-Scam and Cybersecurity Makeathon was held at Toa Payoh HDB Hub Atrium. Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs & Ministry of Social and Family Development, Ms Sun Xueling, presented awards to 12 outstanding groups who were shortlisted to showcase their innovative tabletop game prototypes that were developed over the four-month long competition (please refer to Annex A for the list of award recipients). Team Bersuguys from CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School was awarded the grand prize for this competition.
The shortlisted teams underwent a series of workshops and webinars to equip them with knowledge on game creation, scams and cybercrime in order to create a prototype of a tabletop game. They were also mentored by officers from the Police’s Commercial Affairs Department and Operations Department; as well as experts from Capital Gains Studio, an award-winning tabletop design and publishing studio based in Singapore.
The Police will continue to work closely with the community to increase the robustness of public education measures on scams. For more information on scams, members of public can visit www.scamalert.sg or call the Anti-Scam Helpline at 1800-722-6688 to seek scam-related advice. SPF encourages everyone to be our advocate by sharing the latest scam alerts you receive on NCPC ScamAlert Telegram channel (https://t.me/ncpcscamalert) with your family and friends. Together, we can help stop scams and prevent our loved ones from becoming the next victim of scams.
Link to MOS Sun Xueling’s speech at the Anti-Scam & Cybersecurity Makeathon 2023
List of Recipients for the Anti-scam and Cybersecurity Makeathon: Grand Finals
- CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School
- Dunman Secondary School
- Greendale Secondary School
- Greenridge Secondary School
- Hillgrove Secondary School
- Kranji Secondary School
- Mayflower Secondary School
- NorthLight School
- Orchid Park Secondary School
- River Valley High School
- Unity Secondary School
- Westwood Secondary School
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
17 April 2023 @ 7:10 PM