SINGAPORE, Jan 10 — An 18-year-old admitted in court to multiple offences committed between 2024 and 2025, including distributing a girl’s nude photos, forging an NRIC and extorting a schoolmate.

He pleaded guilty yesterday to five charges, the Straits Times reported, and cannot be identified because he was 17 when some offences occurred and is protected under the Children and Young Persons Act.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Adelle Tai said that while the accused was young, his behaviour amounted to “a sustained campaign of exploitation and violence against other vulnerable and young victims.”

She added that his actions showed “a concerning escalation in criminal behaviour, a lack of genuine remorse, and a complete disregard for legal consequences, as evidenced by his continued offending while he was on bail.”

Court documents stated that on July 17, 2024, the teen joined a group chat where nude photos of the victim were being circulated.

He saved the images before they were deleted and later uploaded them to a public Telegram channel he created.

He also shared the channel link on his Instagram page with the caption, “Click here for exclusive content.”

The Telegram channel eventually drew between 400 and 500 members.

He deleted it only after the victim told him that authorities were aware of the leak.

On August 8, 2024, he and a classmate stole about S$760 (RM2,416) worth of items from a Popular bookstore at Nex, although only S$559.80 was eventually recovered.

In September 2024, he used a photo editing tool and an image from the Singpass app to alter his classmate’s NRIC, changing the date of birth from June 23, 2009 to June 23, 2002 and modifying the identification number.

The classmate used the forged document to buy cigarettes and alcohol on three occasions between September 1, 2024 and January 8, 2025.

The classmate later lodged a police report on January 11, 2025, admitting he had used a forged NRIC.

In February 2025, he joined a conference call with a 15-year-old boy and another youth known as ‘B5’ while playing an online game, during which a discussion about Kpods arose, and the teen’s father overheard and confronted him.

Kpods are disposable vape devices commonly used by teenagers in Singapore.

They are small, flavoured e‑cigarettes that contain nicotine and are illegal to purchase, use or possess under Singapore’s Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act.

The teen and B5 then planned to deceive the 15-year-old into paying money.

DPP Tai said, “B5 devised a scheme to deceive the victim by falsely claiming that the accused’s father had disposed of the accused’s Kpods, allegedly valued at S$500, attributing this loss to the victim for initiating the topic during their earlier conversation.”

The teen agreed because he needed money to buy bicycle spare parts costing S$600.

B5 demanded S$10,000 from the victim during a subsequent call, and the teen reduced the amount to S$1,000.

Between March and May 2025, the victim made 15 payments totalling S$917.50.

The teen gave B5 S$200 and used the remaining money for daily expenses.

In May 2025, the teen and three others confronted the same victim in a school toilet over another dispute involving Kpods.

The teen had earlier demanded S$3,000, but the victim had delayed payment.

DPP Tai said, “The victim was told to choose between stripping himself to expose only his underwear or to fight (one person in the group).”

The victim stripped, and one of the teen’s friends recorded a video.

They told him to kneel and apologise for delaying payment.

The teen later used the video to pressure the victim into paying S$228.

He assaulted the victim on July 28, 2025, though court documents did not state the reason.

The victim’s mother lodged a police report on July 31, 2025.

Police arrested him on August 1, 2025 and released him on bail, but he later committed theft and affray, leading to his bail being revoked on October 9, 2025.

He has been in remand since then.

The prosecution requested a reformative training suitability report and objected to probation due to the seriousness of his offences.

The teen will be sentenced on February 6, 2026.