A 50-year-old man and a 54-year-old woman will be charged in court on 12 April 2023 for their suspected involvement in separate fraudulent registrations of prepaid SIM cards.
Between September 2021 and January 2022, the two handphone shop retailers had allegedly misused other persons’ particulars to fraudulently register more than 470 prepaid SIM cards in total. In both cases, the duo were believed to have exploited the terminal devices to pre-register additional prepaid SIM cards using the customers’ personal information when the customers handed over their identification documents for the registration of prepaid SIM cards.
The two persons will be charged in court with illegally obtaining personal information under Section 416A of the Penal Code, as well as unauthorised modification of computer materials under Section 5(1) of the Computer Misuse Act. The offence of illegally obtaining personal information is punishable with an imprisonment for a term of up to three years, a fine of up to $10,000, or both. The offence of unauthorised modification of computer materials carries a fine not exceeding $10,000, imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or both.
Additionally, the 50-year-old man has previous conviction of similar offence. Therefore, as a repeated offender, he may be fined up to $20,000, imprisonment for a term of up to five years, or both, for the offence under Section 5(1) of the Computer Misuse Act.
The Police take a serious stance against errant handphone retailers and assistants who engage in such illegal acts and will spare no effort to clamp down on those who exploit and misuse other persons’ personal information to fraudulently register prepaid SIM cards, as they may be indirectly facilitating illegal activities such as unlicensed moneylending, scams and vices, among other illicit activities. Members of the public are advised to always maintain a clear view of their identification documents to prevent them from being misused especially during the registration of prepaid or postpaid SIM cards by handphone shop retailers or assistants.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
11 April 2023 @ 11:25 PM