Ten men aged between 17 and 32 were charged on Tuesday, December 9, for their suspected involvement in a coordinated effort to illicitly change registered residential addresses through the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority's (ICA) electronic change of address (eCOA) service.
The case first came to light on January 11, 2025, when ICA publicly announced that it had detected a series of suspicious attempts to alter residential information online.
Four other men had already been charged earlier in January 2025 in relation to the same case. On Tuesday, December 9, police filed additional charges against three of these four individuals.
The remaining man, a 30-year-old who is believed to be the mastermind behind the operation, had previously been issued 42 more charges in July and November 2025. With the latest developments, a total of 14 men have now been charged. Of these, five were also charged by ICA for allegedly submitting false declarations during the address-change process.
Joint investigations by the Singapore police and ICA revealed the existence of a criminal network that had allegedly intercepted ICA PIN mailers sent to residents.
These mailers contained secure one-time PINs required for official updates. The group is believed to have used the intercepted PINs to fraudulently change the registered residential addresses of various victims. By doing so, they were able to receive password-reset letters intended for those victims' Singpass accounts, ultimately allowing them to take over the compromised digital identities.
Among the 14 charged, investigators identified three individuals as the key actors. Ng Wei Chang, 30, is believed to have led the network. He allegedly carried out fraudulent address changes using the eCOA system and compromised at least 18 Singpass accounts.
Ng was first charged on January 17 and later faced 42 additional charges on July 3 and November 20 for offences under the Computer Misuse Act (CMA) and the National Registration Regulations (NRR).
The second key figure, 32-year-old Chaing Bang Xuan, is suspected to have obtained NRIC details and recruited runners who helped facilitate the illegal activities.
He was first charged on January 15 and was issued six more charges on Tuesday, December 9, including offences under the CMA and for transferring criminal proceeds under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act.
The third central actor, 25-year-old Lee Ming Shen, is believed to have managed a network of runners tasked with sourcing mailing addresses and acquiring Singpass credentials. He was charged on December 9 with eight offences, including abetment to disclose Singpass access codes under the CMA and abetment under the NRR for falsely applying for changes of residential addresses.
The remaining 11 men are believed to have played supporting roles within the syndicate. Their alleged activities included recruiting additional runners, acting as intermediaries to transmit photographs of intercepted PIN mailers, surrendering their own Singpass or bank account credentials in exchange for money, and submitting false applications to alter residential addresses.
They face a range of charges, such as unauthorised disclosure of access codes, supplying or obtaining Singpass credentials belonging to others, providing false information for official records, and various abetment offences under both the CMA and NRR.
Beyond those charged, seven other individuals who were arrested in connection with the case have been issued 24-month Conditional Warnings in lieu of prosecution, on the condition that they do not reoffend during this period. Authorities added that investigations are ongoing and stressed the importance of safeguarding personal identification details in light of increasingly sophisticated digital-identity offences.
