Four men charged over Telegram group containing leaked sexual videos and photos of women
SINGAPORE – Four men were charged in court on Wednesday (July 28) over their involvement in a Telegram group containing leaked sexual videos and images of women.
The Telegram group, named “Sam’s lots of CB Collection”, included photos of individuals in the nude, of women dressed scantily or in compromising positions, as well as videos of sexual acts.
These are exploitative of the women involved as they were circulated on the platform without consent, said the police in a statement on Wednesday.
The four men – Yee Wing Kay, 46; Wong Ming Jun, 28; Lincoln Anthony Fernandez, 30; and Tan Yeow Chong, 40 – were charged with multiple counts of possessing obscene films and transmitting obscene materials.
Among other offences, Tan is said to have a total of 17,219 obscene films in two of his hard disks.
Wong, Fernandez and Tan are Singaporeans. Yee is a Malaysian with Singapore permanent residency.
The police said they received a report against the Telegram group on Oct 24, 2019, and arrested four men responsible for the upkeep and the distribution of the obscene contents in the group on Nov 6 that year.
“Subsequent investigations revealed that three of the men were believed to be administrators of the Telegram group, while the fourth had advertised the sale of the obscene materials,” said the police.
Electronic devices were subsequently seized from them and obscene materials, including thousands of video files and pictures, were uncovered from forensic examination.
The police said they consulted the Attorney-General’s Chambers this month to charge the four men, upon the conclusion of investigations.
Their cases will be heard again on Aug 28.
Offenders guilty of possessing obscene films can be jailed for up to six months, or fined up to $20,000, or both.
Those guilty of transmitting obscene materials can be jailed for up to three months, or fined, or both.
The police said they take a very serious view of sexual exploitation of women perpetuated through illegal chat groups, and will take tough enforcement actions against such offences.
“Members of the public are advised not to join illegal chat groups circulating obscene materials, and to report them to the police,” they added.