Public Prosecutor v Ye Lin Myint

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Marvin Bay
• Judgment Date: 25 February 2019
• Neutral Citation: [2019] SGDC 36
• Court: District Court (Singapore)
• Docket Number: DAC-933494-2017 & Others
• Published date: 08 March 2019
• Year: 2019
• Hearing Date: 29 January 2019
• Plaintiff Counsel: Thiagesh Sukumaran (Deputy Public Prosecutor)
• Defendant Counsel: Gino Hardial Singh and Debbie Ooi (M/s Abotts Chambers LLC),Foo Cheong Ming (M/s Foo Cheow Ming Chambers)
• Citation: [2019] SGDC 36

District Judge Marvin Bay:

These are my grounds of decision for the sentence imposed against Ye Lin Myint. Mr Ye, a Singapore Permanent Resident from Myanmar, aged 36, pleaded guilty to having committed five counts of criminal intimidation by anonymous communication, contrary to Section 507¹ of the Penal Code (PC), along with eight counts of harassment by using threatening communications contrary to section 3(1(b) of the Protection from Harassment Act (POHA)². Mr Ye also consented to 30 charges (comprising a further five charges under section 507 PC and twenty-five charges under section 3(2) POHA) to be taken into consideration for his sentencing.

The proceeded charges

The five proceeded section 507 Penal Code charges are as follows (1) DAC-933494-2017 (1st charge) (2) DAC-946690-2017 (3rd charge) (3) DAC-946698-2017 (25th charge) (4) DAC-946701-2017 (29th charge) (5) DAC-946704-2017 (36th charge)

The eight proceeded section 3(2) POHA charges are as follows (1) DAC-937473-2018 (33rd charge) (2) DAC-937474-2018 (43rd charge) (3) DAC-937487-2018 (11th charge) (4) DAC-937492-2018 (15th charge) (5) DAC-937507-2018 (23rd charge) (6) DAC-937513-2018 (28th charge) (7) DAC-937564-2018 (40st charge) (8) DAC-937566-2018 (41st charge)

Background of Criminal Intimidation Offences

Mr Ye; who was at the material time, an insurance agent with Prudential Singapore, admitted³ to being ‘upset’ when his clients who had failed to turn up for scheduled appointments with him, or had taken steps to cancel insurance policies that they had previously purchased from him.

Some potential clients, who had agreed to meet with Mr Ye and eventually decided not to purchase insurance policies from him, had also drawn the ire of Mr Ye, who perceived these individuals to have disrespected him or otherwise treated him in a shabby manner. Mr Ye had thus arrived in his scheme to send them threatening messages by letter to their residential addresses and via e-mail to their email accounts.

Mr Ye intended to send these threatening letters and emails because he wanted his clients to know that it was “not nice to do bad things to people who did not do anything to them”. Sometime in July 2017, Mr Ye had used his wife’s Lenovo laptop to create email accounts using the monikers LordVoldermort@Protonmail.com and BruceBannerDr@protonmail.com.

Mr Ye used Protonmail, an email service based in Switzerland, which did not require the input of personal information to create the email account. As Protonmail also did not maintain any IP logs which could be linked to the email account, Mr Ye was able to remain anonymous when he sent emails to these individuals. Mr Ye had concurrently created a Bitcoin wallet, and linked the LordVoldermort email account to the Bitcoin wallet, enabling him to receive and transfer Bitcoins using Bitcoin links.

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, a form of digital currency which can be transferred between individuals using peer-to-peer networks, without intermediaries, such as banks, using Bitcoin wallets. The Bitcoin wallets are identified by alpha numerals, instead of by the names of the owners of the Bitcoin wallets. At the time, 1 Bitcoin was equivalent to S$6,597.92.

After he created the Protonmail accounts, Mr Ye crafted letters and emails that were addressed to his clients, which threatened that harm would befall them and their families if 1 Bitcoin was not transferred to his Bitcoin wallet. He signed off the letters and emails with the pseudonym “Lord Voldermort”. He stamped the word “URGENT” on the letters.

The letters and emails that were sent to his clients were crafted using details that had been obtained via his interactions with them while marketing insurance products. Mr Ye was only arrested after Police conducted extensive investigations into the offences, by recording multiple statements from victims and using DNA evidence to trace him.

Regarding the 1st Charge - DAC 93394-2017

On 16th August 2017, at 9.00 am, Mr T (T⁴) opened his letterbox at an address in Yishun Street 71 and found a typewritten letter on red paper. The word “URGENT” was stamped on the paper.

The letter read as follows:

Hello Mr T

I am a single parent with a very sick child who needs medical attention. And I need your small financial help from you. I am really desperate and really in need of your help. I know that you will ignore my request and throw away this letter. DO NOT DO THAT.

For the past few months, I have been watching you. I know all about your personal details. I know where you live (obviously), I know where you work. Basically I know everything about you. This is just Stage 1, introduction and asking your help “nicely”. If you do not comply, I will move onto stage 2,3, and so on. The more stages it get, the more miserable your life will become I can humiliate your life, I can make you jobless, I can even put you in jail, I can destroy your reputation in your Myanmar community. I can also harm you or your parents. But honestly, I do not want to do those. All I need is your small donation.

Amount requested: 1 Bitcoin (1 BTC)

Wallet address to send: (stated)

You can google how to get Bitcoin in Singapore and how to do the transfer and all that. It is easy to follow. Once you transfer, take a screen shot and sent to

LordVoldermort@protonmail.com

You might be thinking to report to the police. This is what will happen if you do that. The police will open a case file and ask you not to send any money and do not do anything. The reason is this is not even a crime yet and the police think most of the scammers will move on to others if you do not do anything. I am not like those. I am focused and dedicated and desperate and you specifically targeted for this. I will make you crack unless you donate me.

I know that you are wealthy enough to buy 1 Bitcoin.

Lord Voldermort

Mr Ye admitted that he had sent the letter to Mr T, as Mr T had cancelled appointments with him on more than three occasions in 2016, and after having obtained Mr T’s residential address and other personal details through his interactions with Mr T as his insurance agent.

Regarding the 3rd and 36th Charges DAC 946690-2017 and DAC 946704-2017

On 16th August 2017, at 6.07 am, at an address in Eunos Crescent, Mr C received an email from the Lord Voldermort email account. The email read as follows, which was substantially the same, save that the threat was customised in the following manner:

Hello Mr C,

The more stages it get, the more miserable your life will become. For the past few months, I have been monitoring you and your family and I know everything about you. I know both your addresses, your wife personal details, your personal details, where you work… where your daughter (daughter’s name) attending the school. I can make your life totally humiliated and miserable. I can make you become jobless. I can mess with your stock holdings. I can even physically harm you and your family if I want to. Honestly, that will be the last Stages and I do not want to do that. I can even put you in jail, just from my computer. I am already inside and you cannot do anything to stop me.

Mr Ye had also obtained Mr C’s email address, place of employment, and details of his family members via their interactions as his potential insurance agent.

In September 2017, Mr C received another email from the LordVoldermort email account. He had increased his demand to 1.5 Bitcoin equivalent to S$9,896.88. The email read as follows:

Hello Mr C,

Did you enjoy answering your door and your phone for the past few days? Things are about to get worse. Up t(o) this point onwards, these are just warm ups. From this point onwards, the attacks on you and your wife will be inversible (sic) and it will destroy your life and reputation. I have warned you before and this is my last email warning to you. I am real and not bluffing. So, take a moment and think carefully. You can earn back the amount that I am asking you to pay in 1 or 2 months time. do you really want to go to bed at night and afraid that there are bad thing waiting for you in the next day? do you really want to stay in stressful life not knowing when and how I am going to attack you? do you really want to stay in stressful life not knowing who will be at your doorstep? do you really want to stay stressful not knowing whether V will be safe or not. I only want your money…I hope you will make the wise decision. The next attack will start from 5/09/2017

Regarding the 25th Charge - DAC 946698-2017

On 17 August 2017 at 7.52 am, at an address in Jurong West Street 52, Mr Z received an email from the LordVoldermort email account which was substantially the same as the initial letters described above, with the ransom stated to be one Bitcoin with the completed transaction to be screen shot to the attached email, but customised to make threats of physical, financial and reputational harm against the victim and his sister:

For the past few months, I have been monitoring you and your sister. I know everything about you two. I know your addresses, your personal details, where you work. I can make your life totally humiliated and miserable and your Myanmar community. I can make you jobless. I can even physically harm you or your sister if I want to…’

Regarding the 29th Charge - DAC 946701-2017

Sometime on 16th August 2017, at an address in Clementi Avenue 4, Mr L received an email from Mr Ye’s LordVoldermort email account.

The email, which was similar in format, alluded to a familiarity with the address and place of work of the victim, promising to visit financially ruin the victim and physical harm him, his spouse and his parents:

I know where you live, where you work. I can make your life total humiliated and miserable in your Myanmar community. I can make you become jobless. I can even physically harm you...