10 nabbed in raid targeting shops fraudulently registering SIM cards

Ten people, comprising nine men and a woman, were arrested during an anti-scam operation yesterday for their suspected involvement in fraudulently registering prepaid SIM cards.

In a statement, the police said their nine-hour operation involved officers from the Commercial Affairs Department and targeted 17 mobile phone shops in Orchard, Geylang, Serangoon, Pasir Ris, Jurong West, Yishun, Woodlands, Boon Lay, Desker Road, Syed Alwi Road and Rochor Canal Road.

The 10 suspects are aged 31 to 56, while another 15 men and nine women, aged 24 to 68, are assisting with investigations.

The operation comes amid a recent spate of scams, with the police revealing last Thursday that at least 1,200 cases of phishing scams have been reported since December.

Assistant Superintendent Simon Lam, a senior investigation officer in the police's Anti-Scam Centre, said that by fraudulently registering prepaid SIM cards and selling them to customers who wish to remain anonymous, the mobile phone retailers have indirectly facilitated scam syndicates that exploit the anonymity of such SIM cards to avoid detection.

The police said the SIM cards are registered using the particulars of unsuspecting customers or foreigners who have not entered, or have left, Singapore. Criminals use such cards as an anonymous channel of communication for unlicensed money-lending, scams, vice and other illicit activities, they said.

Scam syndicates have been found to use such SIM cards to contact victims and communicate among themselves.

During yesterday's operation, an assortment of paraphernalia such as laptops, mobile phones, photocopied passports, SIM cards and relevant documents were seized.

At City Plaza in Geylang Road, police officers raided several mobile-phone shops simultaneously in teams of three. During the raid, they sifted through stacks of SIM cards, flipped through logbooks and interviewed shopkeepers.

Shopkeepers were also made to unlock cabinets for the officers to search them, and items such as SIM cards and logbooks were taken away in bags from some shops for further investigation.

Investigations have revealed that mobile phone retailers involved in the fraudulent registrations had abused the computer systems holding registration information for prepaid SIM cards. Further investigations are ongoing.

Those convicted of unauthorised modification of computer material under the Computer Misuse Act 1993 can be fined up to $10,000, jailed for up to three years, or both.