Three Singaporeans charged over alleged plot to change addresses on immigration e-service portal

SINGAPORE, Jan 17 — Three Singaporeans face charges related to illegal attempts to alter residential addresses via an online service provided by Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA).

Channel News Asia (CNA) reported that the trio appeared in a district court today, where they were formally charged under the Computer Misuse Act.

The report said the first individual Ng Wei Chang, 30, is accused of aiding in the unlawful disclosure of a six-digit PIN that allowed unauthorised access to the ICA e-service.

This access was used to change the addresses of unknown individuals without their consent, an act allegedly carried out on or around October 1, 2024.

He faces a charge of disclosing an access code for an unlawful purpose.

CNA also said a second individual Yuen Mun Fei, 38, stands accused of transmitting Koh’s user identification, password, and one-time password for the national digital identity service in November 2024.

This transmission allegedly facilitated an offence under Section 3(1) of the Computer Misuse Act, which deals with unauthorised access to computer material.

Meanwhile, a third suspect Koh Hong Yan, 26, is charged with sharing his SingPass user identification and password, along with a one-time password, with Yuen for illegal purposes on December 16, 2024.

For a first-time offender, the punishment can include up to three years in prison, a fine of up to S$10,000 (RM33,000), or both.

The prosecutor told the court that the case was likely part of a wider syndicate, prompting a request for the three to be remanded for further investigation, including a police raid.

They will remain in custody until their next court appearance on January 24.

The fraudulent activity came to light on January 11, when the ICA reported about 80 cases of attempted illegal address changes.

These attempts were made through a feature in the ICA’s e-service that allowed a proxy to alter a person’s registered address.

This proxy feature was suspended on January 11 and later partially reinstated with the option removed.

The ICA reported that about 75 per cent of the attempts were successful, with perpetrators using stolen or compromised SingPass credentials to carry out the changes.

These criminals would then request a new SingPass PIN to gain further access to the victim’s accounts, possibly to commit additional cybercrimes.