A reader who goes by the name CH says that his girlfriend had traveled from Malaysia to visit him in Singapore last Thursday. However she encountered a strange incident that left her feeling somewhat unsafe.
Shortly after crossing over from the Immigrations Checkpoint, CH's girfriend received a text message asking her whether she wanted to be "friends". The text message was signed off by a person named "Syed".
According to CH, the only way Syed could have gotten her number was via the disembarkation/embarkation form, or “white card”, that she filled up at the Tuas Checkpoint at 12.30pm yesterday. On the card, she had to fill in her handphone number — which could be where the officer might have gotten her contact.
His girlfriend received the first text at about 4.40pm.
CH said: “I told her to just ignore the text, and let me know if he SMS again, and I will lodge a complaint.
“After she ignored the text, she got a Whatsapp message at about 8pm saying ‘Hello’ again.”
The Whatsapp profile picture showed a photo of a man who CH's girlfriend identified as a immigrations officer at the checkpoint that she saw earlier that day.
“My girlfriend might not be the first target. What if many girls have been targeted?”
Following the last Whatsapp message, CH lodged a formal complaint.
The Immigration Checkpoint Authority (ICA) of Singapore has since issued a statement confirming that it had received the reader's complaint. In its statement, the ICA had conducted an inquiry and found that the officer had breached his professional duty by texting the girl and has been dealt with accordingly.
Editor's Note:
Do you have a story to share? Please use our submission form or email us at editorial@allsingaporestuff.com. If not, why not give us a 'Like'?