We call on Meta (Facebook’s parent company) to take urgent and decisive action to remove illegal moneylender groups and ads targeting people in Singapore. These loan sharks are exploiting Facebook’s platform to harass vulnerable individuals, bypass regulations, and operate outside the law.

In Singapore, unlicensed moneylending is a serious criminal offence. Yet every day, hundreds of illegal loan shark posts appear on Facebook Groups and Pages, openly advertising “quick cash” loans. Many of these groups are public, with thousands of members—including migrant workers, domestic helpers, and even unsuspecting locals.

These syndicates are brazenly flouting Singapore law, collecting sensitive data through dubious forms, and engaging in relentless harassment once someone responds.

These illegal activities are:

• Exploiting the vulnerable, especially low-income earners and foreign workers
• Bypassing MAS rules, which strictly prohibit moneylenders from advertising outside of their retail outlets
• Endangering families, with documented cases of threats and harassment at borrowers' homes - in fact, one of our colleague's sister's faced this issue when her domestic helper's boyfriend took her ID and borrowed from one.
  
  
• Or worse, loan scams

According to Section 16(3) of the Moneylenders Act (Cap. 188), moneylenders are not permitted to advertise on social media and are permitted to advertise their moneylending business only in the following media:

a. Business or consumer directories in print or online media;​

b. Internet websites belonging to the licensee; and​

c. Advertisements placed within the approved place of business, or on the exterior side of the wall, door, shutter, gate or window of the approved place of business.

Also, moneylenders are not permitted to share their mobile numbers in any advertisements. So simply detecting a number on the groups/posts could be a way for Meta to spot those schemes / ads. 

We, the undersigned, urge Meta to:

Implement stricter keyword and group monitoring for terms like “quick cash” and “moneylender” in Singapore-based groups.

Proactively take down groups and pages that offer or promote unlicensed moneylending.

Work with Singapore’s police and regulators (e.g., MAS) to ensure offenders are reported and blocked from reappearing.

If Meta can remove COVID-19 misinformation and enforce bans on hate speech, it can and must take the same approach to stop illegal financial crimes from spreading on its platform.

Facebook has the technology. Now we need the will.

Sign to demand change before more lives are destroyed. Share it so we can reach more people!

Protecting borrowers goes beyond stopping scammers—Stop Misleading Loan Practices— Sign our other petition to Demand Transparency and Accountability in Singapore’s loan scene