Ex-StarHub employee jailed 10 weeks for illegally retrieving customer details for secondary school friend

SINGAPORE — A former employee of StarHub was on Monday (Sept 20) jailed 10 weeks for illegally retrieving details of the telecommunications company’s customers for a secondary school friend.

Zhang Jiazheng, a 39-year-old Singaporean, pleaded guilty to three charges under the Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act. Six other similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

The court heard that in 2015, Zhang’s friend Lee Cheng Yan told Zhang that he needed the details of several StarHub customers because they owed him money from drinking and gambling sessions, and he wanted to collect the debts.

Both Lee and Zhang, who was then a customer care consultant at StarHub, attended the same secondary school.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Magdalene Huang did not elaborate on the relationship between the two men but said that they would meet each other occasionally for drinks and meals.

Zhang acceded to Lee’s request and, on nine occasions between 2015 and 2017, used a workplace computer to access the details of various StarHub subscribers, such as their addresses.

As a result, DPP Huang said that the affected subscribers reported instances of harassment, such as calls, text messages and people showing up at their homes demanding that money be returned to various people.

StarHub told TODAY last year that when the matter surfaced in 2017, it immediately revoked Zhang’s access to its system and suspended him from all duties before they terminated his employment that year. 

Lee had in 2015 also approached a retail consultant at a store run by Singtel, another telco, to similarly ask for help to retrieve customer information.

The retail consultant Kelvin Foo Cheek Ann was offered S$20 by Lee for each mobile number that he checked.

Foo, now 32, was jailed 18 weeks in January after he pleaded guilty to corruption and unauthorised access to Singtel's system.

TODAY previously reported that Lee himself was bribed to procure the details of both StarHub and Singtel customers.   

Philbert Lim Zong Xian, 34, was charged last year with three counts of giving Lee bribes totalling S$1,000 to procure their details in 2017.

Both Lee and Lim have yet to be sentenced. Their cases are still before the courts.

Lee, now 37, made headlines last year when he was jailed more than four years and disqualified from driving for life for dragging a traffic policeman with his Maserati car for about 120m in an effort to escape.