26-year-old Loo Lung Tat pleaded guilty to one count of possessing intimate media recordings of others without consent, and another count of obstructing the course of justice by deleting the chat and app.
He was sentenced on 29 August to 3 months and 6 weeks imprisonment.
He had found intimate photos and video recordings of a customer’s fiancee while repairing his phone and scrolling through his media gallery, before sending the files to himself in another chat, according to Channel NewsAsia.
However, he got found out when the customer noticed that there was a new chat window in the Telegram messaging app with the files that Loo had sent to himself.
What happened?
The incident took place on 10 January 2021. A 30-year-old man, seeking to repair his OnePlus 7 Pro smartphone after an accidental drop, entrusted the device to a shop assistant at High Tech Mobile, located in Bugis Junction
The shop assistant, Loo Lung Tat, was tasked with the repair. Armed with the device’s password, he commenced the task of replacing the LCD screen.
However, things took a dark turn when Loo decided to venture into the customer’s personal data without authorization.
Upon accessing the customer’s Telegram chat history with his fiancee, Loo scrolled through the media gallery, stumbling upon intimate images and videos of the man’s partner. He then decided to save these private media for his personal use.
Loo attempted to forward the images to himself, but his plan hit a snag. As the customer had not saved his number, the images could not be forwarded directly. Determined to execute his plan, Loo saved his contact information on the customer’s phone and proceeded to forward the explicit media to himself.
The unsuspecting customer, using his phone later that day, discovered a new chat window with a user named “Jacky.”
Intrigued by the unfamiliar contact, he opened the chat only to be greeted by a barrage of intimate images of his fiancee. Bewildered and alarmed, he confronted Jacky, only to receive silence in response.
Realizing the gravity of his actions, Loo, the shop assistant, grew anxious and fearful. Fearing confrontation, he resorted to deleting the entire chat history and promptly uninstalled the Telegram application from his own phone. His hope was that erasing the evidence would shield him from the consequences.
The customer, however, was not deterred. He promptly reported the incident to the police, armed with a screenshot of the chat history as evidence. Loo’s attempt to evade justice proved futile, as he was swiftly apprehended by the authorities.