SINGAPORE: A man in Singapore has been convicted over his role in a criminal syndicate that stole personal data from individuals who were registered with South Korean gambling websites.
The syndicate used the information to promote online gambling.
Chinese national Zhang Qingqiao pleaded guilty on Sept 26 to one charge of abetting two others to obtain the personal information of unknown individuals without their consent.
Another charge relating to his allegedly offering to buy the personal data of several Indian nationals found on online gaming websites was taken into consideration for sentencing.
The 39-year-old was arrested at his home in Cairnhill Road on Sept 9, 2024, after an islandwide enforcement operation by the police saw homes raided.
The operation involved more than 160 officers from the Criminal Investigation Department, Police Intelligence Department and Special Operations Command and the Internal Security Department.
Officers seized two iPhones, $465,000 in cash, four thumb-drives, one Apple Watch and a hardware cryptocurrency wallet from Zhang’s home.
The operation led to the arrest of six men who are believed to be linked to a global cyber crime group which conducts malicious cyber activities.
Zhang’s co-accused – Chinese national Sun Jiao, 42 – is allegedly part of the group of six. He is currently in police custody.
Court documents showed that Zhang, together with Sun and Singaporean Lee Kok Leong, 48, had created a WhatsApp group chat on July 28, 2023, titled “Korea”.
Lee later added Clovis Leslie Lim, 36, to the group chat. His nationality was not stated.
Zhang created the group chat with reason to believe that Sun would be able to sell personal data obtained illegally from people registered with South Korean online gambling websites.
He also had reason to believe that Lim could use the information, which included the e-mail addresses and phone numbers, to promote other South Korean gambling websites.
Between July 28, 2023, and Aug 3, 2023, Lim and Lee provided a list of South Korean gambling websites to Sun, where he could obtain personal data from those registered with the sites.
Zhang added two other South Korean gambling websites to the list Lee provided.
On Aug 12, 2023, Lim received from Sun the personal data of 1,000 people registered with South Korean gambling websites which was obtained illegally.
Lim wanted to use the information to run an online betting operation even though he did not have a licence to do so.
On March 8, 2024, Zhang turned on the disappearing message function on WhatsApp, which deleted messages in the group chat after 24 hours.
The prosecution sought a jail term of nine to 12 weeks for Zhang, highlighting that the volume of personal information involved was significant and that the offences were pre-meditated and involved a wider online gambling syndicate.
His defence lawyer, Sunil Sudheesan, argued for a $10,000 fine, citing that Zhang was merely a connector.
Sudheesan added that Zhang derived no benefit from the transaction and did not access the file containing the data.
He will be sentenced at a later date.
Four male Chinese nationals were charged in a district court on Sept 10 for their roles in the global cyber crime group.
Sun and three others – Liu Yuqi, 32, Huang Qin Zheng, 35, Yan Peijian, 38 – had allegedly planned to target websites and exploit the vulnerabilities of these platforms.
Singaporean Goh Shi Yong, 34, is said to have helped Liu, Huang and Yan to allegedly commit the offences.
Sun was handed two charges under the Computer Misuse Act, while the other four men were each handed one charge under the same Act. - The Straits Times/ANN
