Landing page banner

A 46-year-old woman and a 41-year-old man will be charged in court on 14 August 2023 for their suspected involvement in fraudulent registrations of prepaid SIM cards. 
 
Investigations revealed that between September 2021 and January 2022, the 46-year-old woman who was a handphone shop retailer, and her employee, 41-year-old man, who was a shop assistant, had allegedly misused other persons’ particulars to fraudulently register more than 20 prepaid SIM cards. The duo were believed to have exploited the terminal devices and applications 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 for conspiring to cheat the telecommunication companies into registering the SIM cards under Section 417 read with Section 109 of the Penal Code, as well as unauthorised modification of computer materials under Section 5(1) of the Computer Misuse Act. The offence of cheating under Section 417 of the Penal Code carries an imprisonment term of up to three years, a fine, or both, while the offence under Section 5(1) of the Computer Misuse Act carries a fine not exceeding $10,000, imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or both.  

The Police take a serious stance against errant handphone shop 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/postpaid SIM cards. 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.