Man, 33, created fake accounts of NS mate he disliked, used them to share anti-Islam content online to get him in trouble

A 33-year-old man in Singapore created fake Facebook accounts of an acquaintance of his whom he met during national service eight years ago to share anti-Islam content.

This was done to get the victim in trouble.

The perpetrator did so as he felt that the acquaintance was previously "arrogant and sarcastic".

As a result, the impersonation victim was summoned for police investigations at least twice, and said he suffered psychological and professional harm due to the damage to his reputation.

The man responsible, Chua Wang Cheng, was eventually caught.

On Nov. 18, he pleaded guilty to one charge under the Protection from Harassment Act (POHA) and two counts of sharing content intended to wound the religious feelings of Muslims.

Four additional similar charges will be considered during sentencing.

Disliked the victim

According to court documents seen by Mothership, Chua met the victim during his national service in 2011 and developed a dislike for him, perceiving him as arrogant and sarcastic.

The victim cannot be named due to a gag order to protect his identity.

In February 2019, Chua created a Facebook account using the victim’s name and photographs, actively adding up to 627 people as "friends".

He uploaded personal photos of the victim and his friends, with captions like “me and NTU friends, the good old days”.

He also shared documents linked to the victim, including a testimonial from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), adding a caption that read:

“My army transcript when I was serving my time in NS. I have to keep sucking up to CCO balls and lick his c*ck to get the positive comments from him, but it was worth it”.

Deactivated account

When several users flagged the account as fake in September 2019, Chua temporarily deactivated it.

However, an anonymous complaint on Sep. 10, 2019, alleged that the account had posts inciting racial and religious hatred.

The victim was brought in for investigation by the police, where he reported that the account was not his and later lodged a police report.

In the report, the victim indicated that he had been "harassed by the accused’s conduct".

Despite this, Chua reactivated the account, which was eventually shut down by Facebook for violating its community standards.

Created account second time

Chua then created a second fake account using the victim’s identity, through which he shared two anti-Islam YouTube videos in November 2019.

One of the posts was put up with a “This video is really informative and funny" caption.

The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) reviewed the videos, concluding that one aimed to disparage Islam and Prophet Muhammad, while the other contained derogatory remarks about Islam, Prophet Muhammad, and the Muslim community.

The prosecutor said that even though Chua did not produce the videos, he shared them with "an accompanying commentary with the deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of Muslim Facebook users".

By October 2020, three police reports were filed against the second fake account for its inflammatory content, and the victim was once again called in for investigations.

Admitted to his offences

While court documents did not specify how Chua was apprehended, he admitted to the offences during police investigations.

He also confessed to deliberately targeting the victim because he "did not like the victim".

The police also discovered WeChat messages Chua sent to an unidentified person, in which he stated it was "fun to spread anti-Muslim comments" and that it "felt really good to post anti-Muslim" content.

In a police report, the victim detailed the psychological and professional harm caused as a result of Chua's actions "impugning" his reputation.

Chua's sentencing date is scheduled for Dec. 16.

Top photo from Canva