Property agent faces 27 'Do Not Call' charges

SINGAPORE - A property agent from Huttons Asia was hauled to court yesterday to face 27 counts of violating the "Do Not Call" rules, making him the second person to be charged since the rules kicked in on Jan 2.

Kuan Chow Sheng, 32, allegedly sent unsolicited telemarketing messages advertising various property developments to numbers listed in the Do Not Call (DNC) Registry, between Feb 8 and March 2 this year.

Kuan is said to have done this without applying to the Personal Data Protection Commission to confirm whether the telephone numbers were listed in the registry.

He is also accused of sending the messages without getting confirmation within the prescribed duration that the numbers were not listed.

The registry was set up to let consumers block unsolicited marketing calls, SMS messages and faxes by listing their numbers. Over 600,000 phone numbers are on it.

Anyone convicted under the Personal Data Protection Act could be fined up to $10,000 per charge.

Kuan, who was unrepresented, indicated he would plead guilty. The case will be mentioned again on Oct 20.

Star Zest Home Tuition and its sole director, Law Han Wei, 35, were the first to be charged with breaching DNC Registry rules. Last month, Law and the agency were each fined $39,000, or $3,000 per charge, after pleading guilty to 13 of 37 offences committed between Jan 3 and 14.

This article was first published on September 25, 2014.
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