Twenty-one men and 10 women, aged between 16 and 48, were arrested for allegedly providing fraudulently registered postpaid SIM cards for money, said the police on Monday (July 28).

Another nine men and four women, aged between 16 and 57, are assisting with investigations, following an island-wide enforcement operation conducted from July 17 to 25.

Preliminary investigations found that the suspects were purportedly offered between $10 and $15 for every SIM card they signed up for.

They were allegedly told to purchase SIM cards in bulk from different retailers and hand them to the criminal syndicate via their couriers.

Each of them had allegedly supplied between 31 and 49 SIM cards registered using their particulars.

The police noted that crime syndicates exploit local SIM cards and eSIMs for illicit activities like scams, unlicensed moneylending and vice.

For knowingly providing a fraudulently registered SIM card to another person to facilitate a crime for any gain, one can be fined up to $10,000, or jailed for up to three years, or both.

Members of the public can call the police hotline at 1800-255-0000 or submit information online if they suspect or know of anyone who could be involved in the fraudulent registration of SIM cards.

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lim.kewei@asiaone.com