Seventeen Persons Convicted for Illegal Online Sale of Electronic Vaporisers – Total Fines Amount to Over $114,000, Five Received Jail Sentences

The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has prosecuted 17 persons for selling electronic vaporisers1 and related components in Singapore. They were convicted in Court between the period of February and August 2022, with total fines amounting to $114,500. Five of the 17 persons received jail sentences ranging from 10 to 26 days (refer to Annex A for the details).

2 The convicted persons were aged between 20 and 39. They had purchased the e-vaporisers and related components from overseas and sold them illegally on various local social media and e-commerce platforms. More than $170,000 worth of e-vaporisers and related components were seized (refer to Annex B for photos).

HIGHLIGHTS OF SOME CASES
Youth offender placed under 12-month probation for repeated offences

3 Yang Jing Tao, aged 21 years, was earlier caught selling e-vaporisers on Carousell in 2018. He was issued with a conditional warning under which he was bound to refrain from any criminal conduct for a period of 24 months.

4 Between August and September 2019, Yang committed fresh offences by importing e-vaporiser components. He was prosecuted and placed under supervised probation of 12 months for his offences.

Offender given the highest fine

5 Chelsea Tan Yan Qi, aged 24 years, was caught selling e-vaporisers and related components on Telegram. Her husband and employee assisted in smuggling the illicit products from Johor Bahru (JB) into Singapore. Investigations revealed that Tan and her accomplices would use a rented car to transport her supplies from JB to Singapore. On a few occasions, the e-vaporiser supplier in JB had also assisted to conceal the illegal products in the door panels of the rented car to evade detection.

6 Tan was sentenced to a total fine of $23,000 for selling and offering for sale e-vaporisers and their related components. As she could not pay the fine, she had to serve 50 days of imprisonment in lieu of the fine. Her accomplices have been dealt with separately.

Partners-in-crime who imported and sold prohibited products

7 Benjamin Neo Song Ya, aged 21 years and Lim Jing Jie, aged 23 years, had imported e-vaporisers and their related components from overseas and sold them on Instagram and Telegram.

8 Investigations revealed that Neo provided Lim with some funds for the purchase and import of the illegal products. After the illegal products had been imported, they were stored at Neo’s residence while they advertised and sold them to potential customers.

9 Neo was sentenced to a fine of $16,000 and three weeks’ imprisonment, while Lim was sentenced to a fine of $3,000 and three weeks and five days’ imprisonment for their offences.

E-VAPORISERS STRICTLY PROHIBITED IN SINGAPORE

10 HSA would like to remind the public that it is an offence under the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act to sell, possess for sale, import or distribute e-vaporisers and their related components. Any person who is convicted is liable to a fine of up to $10,000, or imprisonment of up to 6 months or both for the first offence, and a fine of up to $20,000 or imprisonment of up to 12 months or both for the second or subsequent offence. In addition, since 1 February 2018, it is also an offence to possess, purchase or use e-vaporisers and their related components. The penalty is a fine of up to $2,000 per offence.

11 From 2018 to 2021, HSA had prosecuted 70 persons for selling e-vaporisers and their related components. The highest fine meted out so far was $99,000 for the illegal sale of these prohibited items. There was also a case where the offender was sentenced to 1 week’s imprisonment and a fine of $61,000 for selling e-vaporisers and their related components.

12 HSA conducts active online surveillance and will continue to take strong enforcement actions against those selling e-vaporisers and related components. We also work closely with the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority to monitor and stop illegal imports of e-vaporisers and related components.

13 The public should also not purchase or bring e-vaporisers and related components into Singapore. From 1 February 2018 to 31 December 2021, 6,842 people were caught and taken to task for the possession and use of e-vaporisers and their related components. Information pertaining to the prohibition of e-vaporisers in Singapore is available on HSA’s website.

14 Members of the public who have information on the illegal import, distribution, sale or offer for sale of e-vaporisers can submit a report conveniently using the online form at go.gov.sg/reporttobaccooffences. Alternatively, they can contact HSA’s Tobacco Regulation Branch at Tel: 6684 2036 or 6684 2037 during office hours (9:00am to 5:30pm, Monday to Friday).

HEALTH SCIENCES AUTHORITY
SINGAPORE
26 SEPTEMBER 2022

Source: HSA

A 54-year-old man was arrested on 25 September after brandishing a chopper and threatening another person with his at Bukit Batok, according to 8World News.

The man was allegedly intoxicated at the time, and had gotten into an argument with the victim, before he whipped out his chopper and threatened the victim.

He was later arrested by the police later that evening and the chopper was then seized.

The incident reportedly happened between the 54-year-old man and a purported acquaintance after having some drinks.

The police said that they were alerted about the man possessing a chopper at Bukit Batok Street 31 on 25 September at about 7.40pm.

No injuries were reported from the incident, and the man was arrested when the police arrived, who then seized the chopper as evidence.

He was charged in court earlier today (26 September) for possession of an offensive weapon, and if found guilty, he faces a jail term of up to 3 years and caning of up at least 6 strokes.

The Police have arrested a 21-year-old woman for her suspected involvement in a case of China Officials Impersonation Scam (“COIS”).

On 20 September 2022, the Police received a report that another 21-year-old woman (“the victim”) had allegedly been kidnapped. Prior to the report, the parents of the victim, who were based in China, received a video of the victim with her hands and legs tied up, with a ransom demand from an unknown person communicating in Mandarin. Following the report, officers from Tanglin Police Division, Criminal Investigation Department, Police Intelligence Department and Commercial Affairs Department conducted extensive searches and investigations to locate the victim. She was eventually found to be safe and sound on 22 September 2022, in a Yishun flat rented by the 21-year-old woman, who was arrested.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the victim had received an unsolicited call from an officer from the Ministry of Health in Singapore who alleged that a phone line registered in the victim’s name was used to cheat people in China. When the victim denied this, the call was redirected to another scammer purporting to be an officer from the “China Police”, who further alleged that a bank account in her name was also found to be involved in money laundering activities in China. To avoid being deported, the scammer deceived the victim into transferring more than $350,000 as “bail money” to bank accounts provided by the scammer. Acting on the scammer’s instructions, the victim also recorded a video of herself being tied up to assist in the purported investigations. Thereafter, the scammer told the victim to cease communication and isolate herself in a “safe house” that the scammer had arranged.

Unknown to the victim, the scammer sent the compromised video to her parents in China and demanded a ransom for her release. Following the report, the Police managed to trace and locate the victim at the unit rented by the 21-year-old woman. Follow-up investigations revealed that the 21-year-old woman had acted on the scammer’s instructions to rent the room for the victim, and handed over a mobile phone with SIM card for the victim to use to communicate with the scammer. Police investigations are ongoing.

From January 2022 to August 2002, a total of 476 COIS cases were reported with losses amounting to at least $57.3 million. The Police would like to highlight that the China Police, INTERPOL and other overseas law enforcement agencies (LEAs) have no jurisdiction to help with any form of investigations without the approval of the Singapore Government. The Police take a serious view against any person who may be involved in scams, whether knowingly or unwittingly, and they would be dealt with severely in accordance with the law.

The Police would also like to advise members of the public to take the following precautions when they receive unsolicited calls, especially from unknown parties, especially those with the “+” prefix which originate overseas:

• Ignore such calls and the caller’s instructions. No government agency will instruct payment through a telephone call or other social messaging platforms (WeChat or Facebook), or ask you for personal banking information such as your internet banking password;
  
• For foreigners receiving calls from persons claiming to be from Police in your home country, call your Embassy/High Commission to verify the claims of the callers;
  
• Refrain from giving out personal information and bank details, whether on websites or to callers over the phone. Personal information and bank details such as internet bank account usernames and passwords, OTP codes from tokens, are useful to criminals.
  
• Do not make any funds transfer if the caller is of dubious identity.
  
• Call a trusted friend or talk to a relative before you act. You may be overwhelmed by emotion and err in your judgment.
  
• If in doubt, always hang up the call and check with the Singapore Police Force.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
24 September 2022 @ 3:10 PM