Singaporeans unable to redeem latest CDC vouchers in 2.5-hour Singpass error

SINGAPORE - Some Singaporeans trying to redeem the $300 Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers on Tuesday could not do so for about 2½ hours after encountering intermittent errors using Singpass.

A yellow banner on the CDC voucher redemption website was put up as early as 12:30pm, prompting users who tried to log in with Singpass to try again later if they are unable to claim their vouchers.

In response to queries from The Straits Times, a spokesman for the Government Technology Agency (GovTech), which operates the Singpass system, said preliminary investigations did not suggest any correlation between the Singpass service disruption and issues with CDC voucher redemption.

The spokesman said the Singpass service was intermittent for users logging in to Singpass via QR code, with the disruption confirmed at 12.23pm.

Log-ins to Singpass via shortcuts or by using ID and password were not affected.

"This disruption was caused by the malfunction of a component that manages the session when users log in using QR code. Service resumed at 2.41pm," the spokesman added.

The technical team continued to monitor the system's performance, performed necessary testing and ensured the stability of the system before informing the public of service resumption at 3.56pm, the spokesman said.

At around 3pm, GovTech put up a notice on Facebook acknowledging the problem with Singpass.

"Some users may have encountered an error message when accessing digital services with #Singpass. We are working to resolve the issue. Please try again later," the agency said, adding that it will provide an update when service resumes.

A service disruption pop-up message was also shown on the Singpass mobile app, informing users of possible difficulties they might experience accessing digital services using the app.

The intermittent Singpass problem also affected access to other government online services.

At around 4pm, GovTech posted another Facebook update stating that the Singpass problem has been fixed. According to the post: "#Singpass service has resumed. We are monitoring it closely. We apologise for any inconvenience caused."

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.