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

SINGAPORE -- The sole proprietor of a mobile phone shop has been given a record S$48,000 fine for using his customers' personal data to illicitly register prepaid SIM cards without their knowledge or consent. Koh Wei Ming @ Muhammad Amin Koh, who ran the shop Mobile Chat, then sold the SIM cards to anonymous buyers, said the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC). In a statement on Wednesday (Jan 17), the PDPC said that 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 telco M1 Limited's computer system for the registration of prepaid SIM cards. The PDPC added that this is the second case...