Record S$48,000 fine for Singapore mobile phone retailer who...

SINGAPORE, Jan 17 -- The sole proprietor of a mobile phone shop has been given a record S$48,000 (RM168,494) fine for using his customers' personal data to illicitly register prepaid SIM cards without their knowledge or consent. Koh Wei Ming -- who is also named Muhammad Amin Koh and ran the shop Mobile Chat -- then sold the SIM cards to anonymous buyers. In a statement today, the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) said investigations found that Koh's errant practices took place over a period of four years with more than 1,000 illicit SIM cards sold. The S$48,000 fine is "the highest penalty meted out for this offence to date", the commission added. Koh was previously sentenced to 16 months' jail last September for unauthorised modification of the contents of telecommunications company M1 Limited's computer system for the registration of prepaid SIM cards. The PDPC said that...