The Singapore Police Force has directed US tech giants Apple and Google to add protective measures on their messaging platforms to prevent spoofing of government agencies, according to a Ministry of Home Affairs release on Tuesday.

The development came after the local police observed messages on Apple's iMessage and Google Messages pretending to be from companies, including over 120 cases involving the impersonation of Singapore Post (SGX:S08).

Currently, Singapore's local SMS registry allows agencies to send messages with a "gov.sg" name, but the feature is not available on Google and Apple platforms, according to a report by Reuters on Wednesday.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has linked up with the two companies on this, and under the directives, Google and Apple will need to prevent accounts and group chats from displaying names which spoof "gov.sg" and other Singapore government agencies, or filter such messages out.

Apple and Google have indicated that they will comply with the implementation directives, the release said.