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In a two-day operation conducted between 30 November and 1 December 2021, officers from the Criminal Investigation Department conducted raids targeting four handphone shops located at Bukit Merah, Bukit Batok, Jalan Besar and Geylang Road. Six men and a woman, aged between 31 to 50, are being investigated for their suspected involvement in fraudulently registering prepaid SIM cards using the particulars of unsuspecting customers or foreigners who have not entered Singapore.

Investigations revealed that these handphone shop dealers had allegedly abused the computer systems holding registration information for prepaid SIM cards. They would then allegedly pre-register SIM cards using particulars of others and sell them to customers who wanted to remain anonymous.

Criminals are known to exploit such fraudulently registered prepaid SIM cards as an anonymous channel of communications for illicit activities. For example, scam syndicates have been found to have perpetuated their criminal activities by using such prepaid SIM cards to contact victims and amongst themselves to evade possible detection.

Police investigations are ongoing. The offence of unauthorised modification of computer material under Section 5(1) of the Computer Misuse Act, Chapter 50A carries a fine not exceeding $10,000 or an imprisonment term not exceeding three years, or both.

The Police will spare no effort to clamp down on errant handphone shop dealers who may be indirectly facilitating illegal activities. Those involved in such illegal activities will be dealt with in accordance with the law.