Man who purportedly made 31 hoax calls to emergency hotlines among 2 to be charged on Sept 28
www.todayonline.com
SINGAPORE — Two people will be charged on Thursday (Sept 28) with making hoax calls to emergency hotlines, including a man suspected of having done this dozens of times and used a foreign phone number.
The two are believed to have made more than 30 calls to the police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) between August and September.
In a statement on Wednesday night, the police said that the 999 hotline received more than 1.3 million calls from the beginning of the year until August, amounting to more than 5,000 calls a day.
“Out of these 5,000 calls, about 4,000 were silent calls from mobile phones,” the police said, referring to cases where the person who dialled remained silent after making the call.
Due to this high volume, operators spent more time answering silent calls than genuine emergency calls, resulting in longer waiting times for genuine emergencies.
“He allegedly reported emergencies such as cases of attempted suicides, loan shark harassments, fires and serious sexual offences at various locations,” the authorities said, adding that the calls were established to be false after officers responded to them.
The man also purportedly took elaborate measures to conceal his identity when making the calls, such as by using a foreign number and providing a false identity over the phone.
He was arrested on Sept 18 after the police analysed the call patterns and made extensive ground enquiries.
The man will be charged with 27 counts of making harassing or obscene telephone calls to emergency telephone numbers and four counts of communicating false information of harmful things.
The police and SCDF established that no such incident occurred when they responded to these calls.
The woman was later identified and she was arrested on Sept 16.
The police added that she had also refused to cooperate with them to hand over her digital device for investigation.
The woman will be charged with two counts of making harassing or obscene telephone calls to emergency telephone numbers.
If found guilty of the above offence, a person can be jailed for up to a year, receive a fine of up to S$5,000 or both.
The offence of communicating a false message attracts a jail term of up to three years or a fine of not more than S$10,000, or both.
For communicating false information of harmful things, a person can be imprisoned for up to seven years or fined up to S$50,000, or both.
www.todayonline.com
SINGAPORE — Two people will be charged on Thursday (Sept 28) with making hoax calls to emergency hotlines, including a man suspected of having done this dozens of times and used a foreign phone number.
The two are believed to have made more than 30 calls to the police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) between August and September.
In a statement on Wednesday night, the police said that the 999 hotline received more than 1.3 million calls from the beginning of the year until August, amounting to more than 5,000 calls a day.
“Out of these 5,000 calls, about 4,000 were silent calls from mobile phones,” the police said, referring to cases where the person who dialled remained silent after making the call.
Due to this high volume, operators spent more time answering silent calls than genuine emergency calls, resulting in longer waiting times for genuine emergencies.
Read also
Singapore is world’s fourth most digitally civil society, but hoaxes, scams at all-time high: Study
Calls that falsely report a crime or emergency further exacerbated the problem, since they also divert scarce resources from responding to real emergencies, the police added.FOREIGN NUMBER, FAKE IDENTITY
The police and SCDF received 31 calls from a 34-year-old man between Aug 26 and Sept 14.“He allegedly reported emergencies such as cases of attempted suicides, loan shark harassments, fires and serious sexual offences at various locations,” the authorities said, adding that the calls were established to be false after officers responded to them.
The man also purportedly took elaborate measures to conceal his identity when making the calls, such as by using a foreign number and providing a false identity over the phone.
He was arrested on Sept 18 after the police analysed the call patterns and made extensive ground enquiries.
The man will be charged with 27 counts of making harassing or obscene telephone calls to emergency telephone numbers and four counts of communicating false information of harmful things.
Read also
Calls to emergency medical services increase 12% in 2021, driven by Covid-19-related calls: SCDF
The second case involves a 27-year-old woman who made two calls on Aug 26 to the police hotline, when she allegedly reported a case of attempted suicide in Pasir Ris.The police and SCDF established that no such incident occurred when they responded to these calls.
The woman was later identified and she was arrested on Sept 16.
The police added that she had also refused to cooperate with them to hand over her digital device for investigation.
The woman will be charged with two counts of making harassing or obscene telephone calls to emergency telephone numbers.
If found guilty of the above offence, a person can be jailed for up to a year, receive a fine of up to S$5,000 or both.
The offence of communicating a false message attracts a jail term of up to three years or a fine of not more than S$10,000, or both.
For communicating false information of harmful things, a person can be imprisoned for up to seven years or fined up to S$50,000, or both.
