On Wednesday ( October 24 ), two Malaysian businessmen were given sentences of 14 weeks in jail each for conspiring with an alleged Chinese cyber criminal to steal the personal data of more than 9,300 people, which are thought to have been stolen from gambling websites.
Seow Gim Shen, 42, and Kong Chien Hoi, 39, both of Penang, had admitted to conspiring with Sun Jiao to obtain the private information of 9 369 unidentified people for gambling activities.
Defense attorneys requested a fine of S$ 10,000 per person while the prosecutors requested six months in jail for each of the people.
District Judge Christopher Goh acknowledged that just about a third of the personal information in question was “in some method effective,” and noted the volume of it in sentencing.
He added that Sun was detained, and that further discussions had been forged to obtain more information, even though the latter had failed.
He said he could n’t accept the fact that this was just a business transaction because he saw the reasons behind the information being used to make the decision to use online remote gambling as an aggravating factor.
He also took into account the offence’s international nature, as Sun was residing in Singapore at the time he gave the information to Seow and Kong, who were not in Singapore.
But, he said that this situation was “less severe” in the wider scheme of things than if it involved Singpass, NRIC or credit card details.
Names and phone numbers of Thai citizens were included in the knowledge obtained.
Seow and Kong were given the option of postponing their prison sentences while considering filing an appeal.
THE Event
Seow was introduced to Sun, 42, by a Taiwanese federal in 2019 at a casino in Cambodia.
He was informed that Sun owned private data data and could sell them to individuals engaged in online gambling.
Seow then gave his companion Kong a call so that he could tell him that he knew Kong had a client who engaged in online gaming businesses.
The two Indonesian people were unaware that Sun was staying in Singapore or what companies he owned.
Sun is alleged to be a member of a worldwide cybercrime syndicate based in Singapore, which is run by Chinese criminals who supposedly had victims in nations like India and Korea from rented bungalows in Mount Sinai.
Eventually, Kong, Seow, and Sun discussed the price of the fraudulently obtained personal information in a chat group called” Malaysian Data” for Sun and Kong.
Sun claimed he had the knowledge of more than 1 million Thais after Kong requested to purchase Thai nationals ‘ personal information.
Kong requested a trial, and he said he would use the information to support an online gambling activity.
On July 24, Sun sent a report over WhatsApp to Kong and Seow containing the personal data of more than 9, 000 individuals, including their names and phone numbers.
The file contained a specimen that had been taken from a larger database as part of the sale of the entire database.
Kong conducted a files analysis with an affiliate. A thorough review showed that 34 per share of the 2, 000 amounts may be contacted. According to an SMS fire sent out to the 9, 369 numbers, 32 % of the SMSes were delivered safely.
After the party chat, Kong and Sun agreed a price for the report’s findings with more information. Kong asked Sun to let him know how many telephone numbers he may give in addition to the personal information of persons from Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
On Sep 7, Seow asked Sun if he had information of Vietnam citizens. Sun sent a report containing the personal data of 6, 800 people including Asian names, email addresses, smart numbers and bank account numbers.
On Sep 13, Kong transferred 20, 000 USD Tether ( about S$ 26, 200 ) to Sun to pay for the full database of over a million people.
Yet, the two Malaysians did not receive the info, as Sun had been arrested.
Six men allegedly connected to the syndicate of “global harmful cyber operators” were arrested in simultaneous raids carried out by approximately 160 Criminal Investigation Department officers on September 9, according to the court.
Sun was detained at a property on Bidadari Park Drive. He had system programs on a notebook that he could use to carry out cyberattacks.
The Malaysian information WhatsApp chat party, to which Kong and Seow belonged, was discovered through police criminal investigations.
The two Malay entered Singapore on Sep 21 for the Grand Prix, and they were detained two days later when they attempted to leave.
Sun is remanded and his situation is pending.