In July 2022, DBS Bank, the SG Courts and the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) jointly launched the annual Hackathon for a Better World competition. The focus of this instalment was on generating ground-up solutions to combat scams, amid a worrying rise in cases. According to reports, the number of scam cases in Singapore had soared by more than 50 per cent, resulting in victims losing more than $600 million to scammers in 2021.
A total of 27 teams took part in the community hackathon. They engaged in two months of intense research and solutioning, before submitting their best solutions for tackling scams. From these entries, six finalists were selected to pitch their ideas before a judging panel on 29 September 2022.
Eventually, four winners were announced in the following categories:
At the presentation ceremony, Justice Aedit Abdullah mingled with the hackathon winners and commended them for their creative, tech-driven solutions.
The winners were recognised in a presentation ceremony on 21 October 2022. Justice Aedit Abdullah, High Court Judge, and Mr Tan Puay Kern, Vice Chairman of the NCPC, graced the event as Guests-of-Honour. The event also saw the launch of a resource package containing all the submitted entries, which would be shared with community partners for their consideration in view of possible implementation to foster a scam-resilient society.
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Last updated on 21 September 2023.