Man drove around Singapore with 'SMS blaster' that sent more than 10,000 phishing messages, gets jail

A Malaysian man, Ong Kak Seng, was sentenced to one year and nine months in jail for driving around Singapore with an SMS blaster that transmitted over 10,000 phishing messages. Ong, who was heavily in debt, agreed to drive around densely populated areas for up to 12 hours a day in exchange for RM1,000 per day. He warned his sister about potential phishing messages while visiting her, as the device mimicked a mobile network to send fraudulent messages to nearby phones, tricking users into revealing their WhatsApp login details.

Ong pleaded guilty to cheating as part of a criminal conspiracy and will serve an additional week in jail if he fails to pay a S$1,500 fine. Two other charges were considered during sentencing, including causing a computer to perform a function with the intent to commit an offence and retaining a device to commit an offence. The device was eventually seized, and it was discovered that it had sent phishing messages to at least 31,820 mobile phones during the period that Ong was operating it.