Police have been conducting investigations since September 2013 against errant mobile phone shop dealers who were believed to have fraudulently registered prepaid SIM cards in bulk for monetary gains. Investigations revealed that a large proportion of these prepaid SIM cards were subsequently used by unlicensed moneylenders to facilitate their illicit activities.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has since completed investigations against eight suspects, comprising four men and four women aged between 34 and 43. They are suspected to have carried out unauthorised modification of the contents of subscriber information on a system which performs the registration of prepaid SIM cards belonging to three local telecommunications companies.
All eight suspects will be charged in Court 26 on 16 July 2015 for various counts under Section 5(1) of the Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act which carries a fine of up to $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term of up to three years or to both, for each count of the offence. Two of the suspects, aged 41 and 43, will also be charged with more than 700 counts of the said offence.
“Police take a serious view of errant retailers who engage in such illegal acts as prepaid SIM cards could potentially be exploited by criminals to mask their illicit activities. Police will not hesitate to take action against those who fraudulently register pre-paid SIM cards for monetary gains. They will face the full brunt of the law”, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Investigations & Intelligence) concurrent Director CID, Tan Chye Hee said in a statement.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
16 July 2015 @ 12:40 PM