Man charged for unauthorised modification of mobile phone subscriber info

SINGAPORE — A 42-year-old man was charged today (June 26) with illegally changing the subscriber information of pre-paid SIM card registrations hundreds of times over three years.

Tan Kong Chieh, a Singaporean, faces 660 counts of the offence, which falls under the Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act.

He is alleged to have illegally accessed a computer system and used the personal data of other people, without their knowledge, to register for pre-paid SIM cards belonging to the three local telcos.

These alleged offences took place from 2010 to 2012.

Dressed in a black polo shirt, Tan looked emotionless as his charges were read out. He indicated that he intends to engage a lawyer. He was accompanied in court by his wife.

New regulatory controls for pre-paid SIM cards, including the need to record personal particulars for each registration, were introduced in 2005 after it was found that terrorists were taught to use these cards to communicate with each other without being detected.

In April last year, the rules were tightened further to cap the number of pre-paid SIM cards each person can hold to three, instead of the previous 10.

In a media statement yesterday, the Police said that they “will not hesitate to take action against persons involved in such illegal acts, and will ensure that they face the full brunt of the law”.

Tan’s bail has been set at S$30,000 and he will next appear in court on July 14. If convicted, Tan could be jailed up to three years and fined up to S$10,000 for each charge.