Singapore

Results

The 2026 scan covered 2,469 employment agencies in Singapore.

• 959 agencies (38.84%) share the same bounding address with another agency, over 6,557 links, 1,295 of which lead to a money lender.
  • Same bounding address between agencies means that agencies map to the same location, in practice the same building, and their relationship might be suspicious as they might be owned by the same entity who tries to “spread risk” over multiple agencies in case some get shut down due to illegal practices.
  • An agency located adjacent to a money lender is highly suspicious because the agency likely forces the migrant worker to take out a high-interest loan from the money lender.
• 38 agencies (1.54%) share the same phone number with another agency, over 49 links.
  • Phone number sharing between agencies is highly suspicious as it indicates that an agency owner is trying to “spread the risk” over multiple agencies in case some get shut down due to illegal practices.
• 258 agencies (10.45%) share the exact same address with another agency, over 542 links, 35 of which lead to a money lender.

Agency Visualizer

Using publicly scraped data, the Agency Visualizer tool illustrates suspicious relationships between employment agencies as well as between employment agencies and money lenders. The visualizer displays the following relationships:

Same Address

Represents two entities located in the same building, on the same floor and in the same room.

Bounding Address

Represents two entities that map to the same spot, in practice the same building. Their geocoded locations sit within about a metre of each other.

Telephone

Represents two entities sharing the same phone number.

There is one extra feature in the visualizer, which is:

Agencies With No Relationships

Displays the agencies that don’t have any relationships with another agencies or moneylenders.

Agency Search

The Agency Search tool provides a more detailed view of each employment agency’s information, including a textual view of the relationships displayed in the Agency Visualizer.