Jail for man who installed spy app on wife’s phone, changed her passwords and sent messages to taunt her

SINGAPORE — Fed up with constantly arguing with his wife, Nicholas Wang Weichou surreptitiously installed an application on her mobile phone to monitor her actions, including her calls and messages.

Using the app, he also gained access to her social media accounts, changed her passwords and sent her threatening messages to alarm her.

Among the messages was one that said: "Don’t need tell ppl I hack your account. Nobody can help you. Till you admit what u done.”

Wang, 30, was sentenced to two weeks’ jail on Tuesday (April 5) after pleading guilty to unlawfully stalking his spouse. He also admitted to two unrelated unlicensed moneylending charges and was jailed for another five months.

Five other similar charges, including obstructing justice by destroying evidence, were taken into consideration for sentencing.

The court heard that in August 2020, Wang and his wife were not on good terms and they were having constant arguments.

At the time, Wang researched hacking-related software and came across an app that would allow him to surveil someone’s social media posts, calls and messages. He paid for two months' subscription to the app for a monthly fee of US$80 (about S$110).

Later, when his wife was taking a nap at his company’s premises with her mobile phone left unattended, he installed the app on the device.

Aside from being able to access all of her social media messages, voice recordings and call logs, he was able to listen “live” to whatever she said and could turn on her mobile phone camera to monitor her actions. He could also see her keying in her passwords.

‘SEE FB. GOOD LUCK’

On Sept 6 that year, the couple quarrelled again due to a misunderstanding over Wang’s company’s Facebook page.

His wife, who had administrator rights, had removed him from the page. She tried to explain that it was an accident but they got into an argument.

When she posted about their quarrel on her own Facebook account, Wang grew unhappy and gained access to her social media accounts through the spy app, deleting the post.

He then posted screenshots of their conversations on her Facebook and Instagram accounts, but set the posts to “private” so that only she could see them.

After doing so, Wang sent her several text messages that read “Let begin”, “Check your fb” and “See fb. Good luck”.

Alarmed and distressed to see a Facebook post she had not created, she deleted it immediately and tried contacting friends for help. A few minutes later, Wang sent her another text message telling her not to tell anyone that he had hacked her account.

Immediately afterwards, he used the app to change her Facebook and Instagram passwords. He also changed her email passwords to prevent her from performing a password recovery via email.

Two days after their quarrel, Wang’s wife filed a police report. Court documents did not reveal how she found out about his actions.

Upon learning that she had reported him to the police, he threw away the iPhone that he had used to access the spy app on her mobile phone. He also returned her access to her accounts.

Separately around that period, Wang borrowed S$400 from a loanshark he knew only as “Nick” but could not repay the loan.

He then agreed to Nick’s proposal to harass other debtors for money. He placed bicycle locks and debtors’ notes on the victims’ front gates before returning to his company premises.

Those convicted of stalking can be jailed for up to a year or fined up to S$5,000, or punished with both.