S'porean man, 37, makes 1,035 silent calls to police in 1 week 'for fun', gets 23 days' jail

A Singaporean man, who made a total of 1,035 silent calls to various police centres within a month, was sentenced to 23 days' jail.

Foo Jia Hong, 37, said he made the calls for fun and enjoyment, according to court documents.

On Aug. 26, he pleaded guilty to one charge of voluntarily obstructing officers at Yishun Neighbourhood Police Centre from carrying out their public duties.

Three other similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

Used a stolen SIM card

Between Apr. 21 and 23, Foo made 425 calls to the Yishun Neighbourhood Police Centre using an unknown number, remaining completely silent during the calls.

An officer at the police centre lodged a police report on Aug. 25.

Investigations revealed that the unknown number Foo used was linked to a SIM card registered in the name of a foreign worker.

Upon questioning, the foreign worker claimed that he had thrown the SIM card away.

Foo admitted that he had found the SIM card inside a second-hand phone cover he bought at a pasar malam in Ang Mo Kio around early February 2026.

He then did a search and learnt that the SIM card services were cheap and came with substantial call time and data, so he decided to use it.

He would top up the SIM card using his EZ-Link card to continue using the services, including to call the police.

More silent calls

Foo also made more silent calls using an unknown number to three other neighbourhood police centres (NPCs) between Apr. 21 and 29.

The one in Bedok received 308 calls, Geylang's received 278, and Ang Mo Kio's received 24.

Foo later admitted that he had obtained the phones numbers of these police centres from their call directories or leaflets.

Out of the 425 calls that the Yishun Neighbourhood Police Centre received, 330 were answered by officers while the remaining were not picked up.

According to the prosecution, the unanswered calls also resulted in obstruction to the phone lines of the affected police centres as any subsequent phone calls will be put on hold in a queue, preventing other calls from being promptly answered.

Sentencing

After Foo was arrested on May 11, he was remanded at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) for psychiatric assessment.

The prosecution, who sought a jail sentence of three to five weeks, noted that Foo has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and mild intellectual disability.

However, they added that the IMH found no contributory link between his conditions and the offences.

In court, the prosecution also highlighted that Foo had a previous conviction in January 2025 for the communication of false messages, but did not elaborate, CNA reported.

Foo's lawyer urged a more lenient sentence of two weeks' jail, arguing that calling the NPCs was not equivalent to calling the 999 emergency hotline.

In sentencing, the judge explained that the court had to consider the fact that Foo has mild intellectual disability, while the foremost sentencing consideration was deterrence.