Man who advertised hookers' services jailed

An unemployed man who raked in about $6,000 a month by advertising on websites the sexual services of prostitutes was jailed for 10 weeks yesterday.

Foo Suan Wee hired a Chinese prostitute in September 2013 who told him that business was not good. She asked him if he would help to advertise her services on the Internet. The 41-year-old posted an advertisement on an online sex forum and charged $200 a month out of her earnings.

Foo then contacted other prostitutes listed on other websites to offer his advertisement services.

He would ask for their photographs and details of the sexual services they provided.

After meeting them in person and collecting between $200 and $300 in cash as payment each month, he would publish their information on various websites.

He admitted to a total of seven charges. Foo had made a profit of about $6,000 a month from September 2013 to the day of his arrest in December last year .

District Judge Mathew Joseph said such websites should be "clamped down" as they target "vulnerable people".

Last Friday, Judge Joseph sentenced Lee Yi Jie and Patrick Sim Yuan Xing, both 20 years old, to 12 weeks' jail for filming upskirt videos and uploading the clips onto the first website that Foo had used.

Under Section 146 of the Women's Charter, anyone found guilty of living on the earnings of the prostitution of another person can face a jail term of up to five years and a fine of up to $10,000.

Ng Huiwen

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 11, 2015, with the headline Man who advertised hookers' services jailed. Subscribe