SINGAPORE – Five foreigners allegedly implicated in a global cybercrime syndicate have been handed fresh charges, months after they were first hauled to court in September 2024.
The five Chinese men are Yan Peijian, 39, Huang Qin Zheng, 36, Liu Yuqi, 33, Chen Yiren, 43, and Sun Jiao, 43.
Many of the charges are linked to the obtaining of data or personal details illegally, and giving false information to employment inspectors from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
Yan, Huang and Liu face similar charges under the Computer Misuse Act, including for securing data and access in computers belonging to companies named De Xin and WG Entertainment. They are said to have acted under the instructions of a man named Xu Liangbiao.
The three men are also accused of receiving benefits of their criminal conduct in the form of cryptocurrency USDT, amounting to nearly $3 million.
Along with Xu, they are also accused of being part of a locally linked organised crime group between 2022 and 2024.
The group allegedly aimed to reap financial benefits through committing offences under the Computer Misuse Act.
Charge sheets do not provide more information on Xu.
Chen is accused of being employed as a housekeeper for Xu without a valid work pass.
He was also handed charges over hiring female foreign workers without valid work passes to clean Xu’s house, and arranging for Yan, Huang and Liu to stay at the same place.
Sun was handed several charges over providing personal data information that he had obtained illegally to other individuals.
The data included personal information of at least 9,369 unknown persons from Thailand, 6,800 unknown persons from Vietnam, and 1,055 unknown persons from Korea.
Sun also faces charges over obtaining access to data held in computers through malware, and modifying the contents of computers without permission, which allow them to gain remote control of websites.
Yan, Huang, Liu, Chen and Sun were arrested after more than 150 officers from the Singapore Police Force’s Criminal Investigation Department, Police Intelligence Department and Special Operations Command and the Internal Security Department conducted simultaneous raids at multiple locations islandwide on Sept 9, 2024.
The raids led to the seizure of more than $543,600 in cash and cryptocurrency worth US$850,000 (S$1.1 million).
All five men will return for a pre-trial conference on May 21.
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