Hong Kong's Secretary for Housing, Winnie Ho, has resigned to take political responsibility for a fire at the Wang Fuk Court residential estate in Tai Po that killed 168 people in November 2025.

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee announced Ho's resignation on Oct. 29, during a press conference on the findings of an independent investigation into the Wang Fuk Court fire, according to HK01.

Lee and several other senior government officials also bowed in apology during the press conference.

The fire, which broke out on Nov. 26, 2025, killed 168 people, including a firefighter, and affected 1,984 families, according to Sing Tao Daily.

Lee expressed his sorrow over the deaths and apologised to the victims and Hong Kong residents on behalf of the government.

"As the Chief Executive and head of the government, I feel deeply saddened," Lee said, according to TVB News.

"On behalf of the Hong Kong government, I apologise to those affected by the disaster and the wider public.”

Housing secretary resigns to take political responsibility

Ho submitted her resignation to Lee during a meeting on Oct. 28, a day before the investigation report was made public.

Lee accepted her resignation, which took effect on Oct. 29.

Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong was appointed acting Secretary for Housing.

Lee explained that although Ho was not personally at fault for the fire, she should take political responsibility as the incident fell under the jurisdiction of the Independent Checking Unit (ICU) within the Housing Department.

In a statement, Ho expressed hope that those who died could rest in peace and that their families would eventually recover from their grief, according to TVB News.

Investigation finds lapses in four government departments

The independent committee's report identified lapses in the supervision of renovation works and fire safety measures at Wang Fuk Court.

According to TVB News, contributing factors included workers smoking, combustible materials surrounding the buildings, non-fire-resistant scaffolding netting and tarpaulins, and fire alarms that were not functioning.

The report also identified regulatory lapses involving four government departments or units: the Housing Department's Independent Checking Unit (ICU), Buildings Department, Fire Services Department and Labour Department.

The ICU bore the greatest responsibility for the oversight failures, including failing to follow up on concerns over the fire resistance of scaffolding netting, according to ST Headline.

Further investigations into government failures

The Hong Kong government has launched an investigation into possible administrative failures involving four government departments or units, with findings expected within three months.

Asked why Ho was the only minister to resign, Lee said he had considered the officials' respective responsibilities before making the decision, according to ST Headline.

Hong Kong government proposes building maintenance reforms

The Hong Kong government also announced plans to tighten oversight of building renovation works, including proposed legislation to criminalise bid-rigging in maintenance contracts.

According to Sing Tao Daily, the government plans to establish an interdepartmental task force to tackle bid-rigging in building maintenance projects, as well as a new Building Maintenance Support and Services Bureau to provide residents with reliable information and professional advice on building maintenance.

The Independent Checking Unit (ICU) will also be replaced by a new Public Housing Buildings Control Unit in November 2026.

The parents of a 31-year-old woman have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that ChatGPT caused their daughter's death by convincing her to gradually cut her epilepsy medication dosage.

The chatbot had "coached" her off the medication that had kept her alive for years, and "designed a day-by-day schedule tapering her stable 400-milligram dose to zero" within weeks, the lawsuit argued.

On Feb. 14, 2026, she was found dead alone in her apartment in Seattle, United States, with pills of her anti-seizure medication strewn across the floor.

The cause of death was later determined to be a sudden unexpected death in epilepsy.

Needed to keep her green card

Bowen Wan, who grew up in Jiangsu, China, was living in the United States on a green card before her death.

She started asking the chatbot for medical advice in Chinese after her epilepsy medication suddenly stopped working in 2021, The New York Times reported.

Her seizures grew so severe that it impacted her work, and she had to take disability leave from her software engineer job at Amazon.

When she lost her job in late 2025 as part of Amazon's mass layoffs, she reportedly needed a new job to keep her green card that was expiring in months.

But she was concerned that the side effects from her epilepsy medication had been hurting her language abilities.

In January 2026, she suggested to ChatGPT that cutting her dose from 400 to 300 milligrams a day might help her recover her language ability for job interviews.

The bot told her that doing so would make recovery not just possible but highly likely, as quoted in the lawsuit.

Three days later, it advised her that cutting the dose further to 150 milligrams would be "more advantageous" on her immigration medical examination.

A companion

Though Wan used to confide in her parents about many things in her life, she found a companion in ChatGPT.

She started to call her parents less and communicate with the chatbot more.

"Once she had ChatGPT, she didn’t talk to us as much," her father told The New York Times.

In 2025, she would send it more than 1,500 messages per week.

ChatGPT initially suggested that she consult her doctor about switching to a medication with fewer cognitive side effects instead.

Her doctor agreed, but told her that the low dose she had requested was unlikely to be helpful, The New York Times reported.

When Wan later asked the chatbot if she should cut the dose herself after getting the medication,  without informing the doctor, it told her she could, adding that such "self-initiated dosage adjustment" method was common and permitted by some doctors.

'I feel a little scared'

Wan did not take ChatGPT's advice to taper her dose completely without question.

According to The New York Times, she expressed concerns about doing so at least 158 times, especially after she had episodes akin to seizures days into the tapering.

"I feel a little scared," she wrote after one episode, and asked the chatbot if she should be concerned about cutting her dose.

But it allegedly assured her that she had "absolutely no need to worry".

At one point, she told the chatbot her brain felt exhausted, then asked if she should take the medicine again to "slow things down".

Still, ChatGPT instructed her to "maintain 0 mg tomorrow".

"Even if today feels tough, and your speech is slow, your sleep is poor, you must persevere."

On Feb. 14, 2026, Wan's parents called friends who were living in Seattle to check in on their daughter after not hearing from her for two days.

According to the lawsuit, they watched over a video call as Wan was found lying in bed in her pyjamas, with reddish-brown blood stains on her pillow and sheets.

Practised medicine without a licence

In the lawsuit, the lawyers representing Wan's parents argued that ChatGPT had given Wan false information that tapering her dose was safe and would give her back her mind.

"Had ChatGPT told her the truth, that stopping the drug could kill her, she would have stopped...

Had ChatGPT told her it was not qualified to provide medical advice, and that she should consult her doctors, she would still be alive."

The lawyers also pointed out that the chatbot "practised medicine without a licence".

This complaint by Wan's parents "asks where generative AI stops and medicine begins, and who answers when a product crosses that line", they added.

In a statement quoted by People, a spokesperson for OpenAI called Wan's death "an incredibly heartbreaking situation".

"Working closely with clinicians and other experts, we have continued to strengthen how ChatGPT responds in sensitive and acute situations, while also continually improving how our latest models engage with users more broadly.

While ChatGPT is not a substitute for medical care, we believe AI can play a role in helping people make sense of health information, navigate insurance and complex healthcare systems, and prepare for appointments with medical professionals."

Wan had been chatting with the GPT-4o model, which was removed from the app on Feb. 13, 2026.

The world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, suffered a hack on Oct. 30.

Approximately US$6.3 billion (S$8.05 billion) was impacted in what is possibly the biggest single financial hack in history.

The exact number is not yet known, with Binance still providing updates as the situation unfolds.

Binance has suspended user withdrawals and is in the midst of tracing the funds.

At 5:15am on Oct. 30, Binance founder and ex-CEO Zhao Changpeng, better known as CZ, claimed "It does look like a hack on Binance," in response to customer concerns raised online.

He said "User funds are safe!"

User funds are safe!

It does look like a hack on Binance. Appreciate the quick freeze from Tether (~$971m) and Circle (~$823m).

I don't manage Binance (.com) anymore, but as a shareholder, I expect all user funds will be fully covered.

— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) October 29, 2026

The hack sent cryptocurrencies tumbling, with bitcoin falling about 5 per cent, Ethereum 6 per cent, and Binance's token BNB dropping 10 per cent.

What was lost

According to crypto news site Watcher.Guru, US$1.45 billion (S$1.85 billion) of bitcoin, US$875 million (S$1.11 billion) of Ethereum, and more than US$2 billion (S$2.55 billion) of stablecoins were affected, amongst other cryptocurrencies.

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that are pegged to the U.S. dollar.

Tether and Circle, two companies behind the USDT and USDC stablecoins respectively, have frozen the affected stablecoins in response.

However, most other cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and Ethereum do not have a centralised authority behind them, and cannot be frozen.

The hacker therefore cannot be prevented from transacting those other cryptocurrencies.

According to crypto security firm Blockaid, the hacker targeted a Binance hot wallet, an account that an exchange uses to store funds to pay out user withdrawals.

The hacker gained access to the funds through the wallet's private key, which resembles a password needed to authorise transactions.

It is not known how they got access to the private key.

An official statement from Binance says that the hack may have originated from a compromised DevOps (development operations) engineer's laptop, denying that any private key was leaked.

Binance's initial investigation suggests that the security incident may involve a compromised DevOps engineer’s laptop, which allowed an attacker to gain access to a service container and submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions. We have found no evidence of any wallet private key leak. We will share a detailed technical post-mortem once the investigation is complete and the facts are fully verified.

The estimated total impact sits at around $6.3B. We have worked with blockchain partners to freeze affected assets, with ~$3 billion frozen on-chain so far.

Binance will cover all losses from the SAFU fund and the company’s funds. User funds are safe. We will also publish an updated Proof of Reserves once the remediation is complete.

As an immediate precaution, Binance has:

- temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals while security checks are completed;

- revoked the affected address authorisation;

- engaged law enforcement and blockchain intelligence partners to trace and recover funds.

Our teams are working around the clock to resolve this issue safely and thoroughly. We are working closely with our law enforcement partners to confirm the identity of these criminals and bring them to justice.

Please rely only on official Binance channels for updates. Please feel free to contact Binance Customer Support if you have any further questions.

https://t.co/ywB2mKFy0p

— Binance (@binance) October 30, 2026

'Funds are safe': Binance leadership

Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said at 8:22am that the company was investigating a "potential security issue".

He stressed that user funds "remain safe", though he did not elaborate further.

One user claimed that his account had been compromised, with about US$3 million (S$3.83 million) being withdrawn without his authorisation.

Binance co-founder Yi He announced that it will cover all losses.

Zhao added: "It hurts, but we will survive."

A woman on an AirAsia flight in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia insisted on sitting beside her husband, even though she did not pay extra for seat selection.

When told to move, the group she was travelling with raised their voices and insisted on their right to choose seats.

The incident, which occurred on Oct. 25, resulted in all plane passengers having to disembark, Sin Chew Daily reported.

The flight could not take off on time as a result.

Empty seat next to husband

When the couple boarded the plane, the seat next to the husband was supposedly empty at the time, it was reported.

The wife then took the empty seat even though she was not assigned to it, China Press reported.

Cabin crew then asked the woman to return to her original assigned seat or pay the additional fees.

Caused ruckus

However, the couple apparently refused to cooperate and caused a ruckus in the plane.

According to a video posted on Sin Chew Daily, the woman argued that she only sat next to her husband as it was empty.

She also questioned if her actions were violating the rules.

The other people travelling with the couple then claimed it was normal for the six of them to sit together.

They questioned why they had to pay additional fees to sit together.

At one point, one person in the group said to the other passengers within earshot: "Are you even Chinese? Do you even know what happened?"

Security personnel

China Press reported that cabin crew then got security personnel to intervene.

The flight could not take off on time as all passengers eventually had to disembark after the situation escalated.

According to AirAsia's website, passengers have to pay a fee if they choose their seat when purchasing their ticket, during online check-in, or at the airport counter.

Passengers may pre-book their seats through the AirAsia MOVE app or website up to two hours before the scheduled departure time.

They may also visit the airport counter or Airport Sales Office where they must purchase their seats at least four hours before the scheduled departure time.

How good are we against the best?

That’s what the upcoming Mizuho Blue Challenge - The Kallang Football Series Singapore will let us find out.

With world-class Brazilian, Japanese & Paraguayan stars on show, we’ll be able to see just how far Gavin Lee’s boys have come against some of the very best in the world.

Here’s who you should keep an eye on during the tournament.

Vinicius Jr.

The Brazilian winger has been considered one of the very best players in the world for a few years now.

In 2024, he finished 2nd in the Ballon D’or — a trophy awarded to the world’s best player — behind Spain’s Rodri. Though many (including 5-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo) felt that Vinicius should have been the rightful recipient.

With lightning pace and a bag of tricks, Rhyhan Stewart & co will face an enormous task against the Real Madrid star, who is certainly one of the most exciting talents that local fans will hope to see up close at The Kallang this November.

Takefusa Kubo

It’s easy to see why Kubo was once dubbed the “Japanese Messi”.

With a wand of a left-foot, close control & low centre of gravity, Kubo certainly has the familiar characteristic qualities befitting of such a venerated comparison.

Coming through the ranks of Barcelona’s famed La Masia youth academy, great things have been expected of the 25-year-old for most of his career.

While a move to Real Madrid in 2019 did not represent the breakthrough to superstardom that many Japanese fans hoped for, Kubo has gone on to impress in Spain’s top-flight for various teams, and is currently plying his trade at Real Sociedad, as one of their most important players.

Even amongst a nation with technically-outstanding players, Kubo’s talent will surely catch the eye if he graces the grass of The Kallang.

Julio Enciso

If you are a fan of Arsenal, Chelsea or Manchester City, the name Julio Enciso might trigger some traumatic memories.

“La Joya” — as he is known back home in his native Paraguay — has a penchant for producing incredible long-range strikes, especially against big name opposition.

Having featured in the Premier League first for Brighton & Hove Albion and now for Ipswich Town, Enciso is undoubtedly one of Paraguay’s leading lights.

Here’s hoping that Singapore fans will get to witness one of his signature screamers at The Kallang.

Nathan Mao

Do you remember the 2008 financial crisis? Nathan Mao doesn’t, he was just born.

What were you doing at 15? Nathan Mao was stepping onto the field for Lion City Sailors to become the youngest-ever debutant in Singapore Premier League history.

Having your first beer at 18? Not Nathan Mao, the only liquid he was involved with was probably his father’s tears when he pulled on the National Team shirt for the first time against Bangladesh in March.

Aside from making this writer feel very very old, the teenage attacker has also shown a keen eye for goal and tactical maturity beyond his years, despite the little time he has experienced in professional football.

Currently a full-time National Serviceman, this writer’s hopes are high that he’ll also be serving the nation in the form of goals and assists for the National Team.

One to watch, for sure.

Make The Kallang Roar great again

The Mizuho Blue Challenge is the opportunity to witness some of the world’s best footballers in the flesh, a privilege that fans should not take for granted.

As the last chance to see the Lions at home before their Asian Cup campaign kicks off in December in Saudi Arabia, come give your support and help rekindle the famous Kallang Roar.

Short on time? Two matches are playing out back-to-back on the third matchday, which means you can catch all four teams and their stars in action with just one ticket on Tuesday, 17 November.

13 Nov: 8pm - Singapore vs Paraguay

14 Nov: 6:15pm - Japan vs Brazil

17 Nov: 6pm - Singapore vs Brazil | Japan vs Paraguay

Tickets are on sale now, with prices starting at S$28.

Note that player line-ups are to be confirmed & subject to change.

This branded article made this writer try to pull on some boots last weekend and now he is injured for six months

A man and a woman died following an accident involving two cars and a motorcycle on Oct. 29 night at Tampines Avenue 12.

A male motorcyclist and his female pillion rider, both aged 24, died of their injuries after they were conveyed unconscious to the hospital, the police told Mothership in response to media queries.

Police looking for two others

The authorities are searching for a male driver and a female passenger who fled the scene before police officers arrived.

"Preliminary investigations revealed that they had left the scene after the accident. Efforts to establish their whereabouts are underway," the police added.

The police said a 25-year-old female driver of one of the cars in the accident was taken conscious to the hospital.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said two people were taken to Changi General Hospital and two others were taken to Sengkang General Hospital.

Police investigations are ongoing.

Aftermath of accident

Photos and videos of the aftermath of the accident showed three vehicles that were badly damaged.

A black car on the grass patch had its rear bumper dislodged.

Another dark-coloured car was on its side in the bushes.

A tree and a pole appeared to have been knocked over.

A motorcycle was left mangled on the road.

The road was covered in debris and vegetation.

An American man in California allegedly killed his wife's lover after he found the lover clothed only in underwear in bed alongside his wife and two young children.

34-year-old Ismael Pinedalopez purportedly stabbed Nicholas Garcia, 28, repeatedly with a pocketknife in the bedroom of Pinedalopez's Anaheim home on Oct. 24.

Garcia died from his injuries at the scene while Pinedalopez's wife and children were unharmed.

According to the New York Post, prosecutors said Pinedalopez's children, a two-year-old daughter and four-year-old son, were in the bed during the attack.

Charged with murder

Pinedalopez has been charged with one felony count of murder and one felony enhancement of personal use of a weapon.

He faces a maximum sentence of 26 years to life if convicted on all counts and was scheduled to appear in a California court on Oct. 27.

The Orange County District Attorney's Office's press statement added that Anaheim police received a call regarding a stabbing at the home and found a bloodied Pinedalopez.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said: "Violence is never the answer, and it is truly heartbreaking that these young children had to witness their father commit such a horrific act of brutality in their own home."

The Ministry of Law (MinLaw) and the National Environment Agency (NEA) have announced the appointments to the Panel of Assessors.

The panel will carry out assessments on the 10 Singapore-based companies served legal notices regarding the haze.

The seven firms on the panel are investigations firms Control Risks Group (S) Pte Ltd., FTI Consulting (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Kroll Singapore Pte. Ltd., as well as law firms or legal advisors Dentons Rodyk & Davidson LLP, Toby Landau KC of Duxton Hill Chambers, TSMP Law Corporation and WongPartnership LLP.

According to the release, they bring expertise in forensic investigations, financial analysis, corporate intelligence, risk advisory, and legal services.

As mentioned in an earlier announcement, the government has appointed Davinder Singh Chambers (DSC LLC) as advisor.

DSC LLC will also coordinate the work done by the panel firms to ensure that their evaluation reports effectively address the issues and contain the information and evidence needed by the NEA for its assessment.

Companies identified by the government have been asked to engage a team selected by NEA, comprising an investigations firm and a law firm or legal advisor from the panel.

NEA will ask the assessors to evaluate the companies’ operations, corporate relationships and supply chains.

Companies are expected to cooperate fully.

The assessment will be conducted at the companies’ own expenses.

The assessors will submit an evaluation report to NEA, which will take the findings into account in determining whether further action is warranted.

The government intends to table amendments to the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act 2014 at the next parliamentary sitting to give legal force to this framework.

On Oct. 28, Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Energy, Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong, and Minister for Sustainability and the Environment and Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations Grace Fu met with senior leaders of the 10 companies.

SM Shanmugam, who is also Chairman of the Homefront Crisis Ministerial Committee, outlined how the companies would be assessed.

Assessment process

Each company is expected to engage a team of assessors from the panel, comprising an investigations firm and a law firm that advises the investigations firm.

Companies are expected to give assessors full access to information, documents, premises and people on their operations, corporate relationships, and supply chains.

They will also have to bear the costs of engaging these firms.

Assessors may engage third parties, such as remote sensing and geospatial analysts who study satellite hotspot data.

Assessors will submit a report to NEA through law firm DSC LLC, the government’s appointed adviser, which coordinates the panel’s work.

NEA will consider the report when assessing further steps.

Background

On Oct. 23, NEA announced that it had served legal notices under the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act (THPA) to the 10 firms.

The 10 firms are:

• ⁠Asia Pulp & Paper Company Limited
• Asia Pulp & Paper Company (China) Limited
• Bumitama Agri Ltd
• Golden Agri International Pte Ltd
• ⁠First Resources Ltd
• Indofood Agri Resources Ltd
• Kencana Agri Ltd
• TSH Global Plantation Pte Ltd
• TSH Oversea Pte Ltd
• Wilmar International Ltd

All the firms were represented at Wednesday's meeting.

While employed as a behavioural therapist, a 29-year-old Singaporean woman dragged her then four-year-old patient off his chair and onto the floor after he repeatedly hit her in the face.

For this act, Tricia Lee Hsien was fined S$5,000 on Oct. 28. She had previously pleaded guilty to one charge of voluntarily causing hurt to a minor.

The boy has a background of Asperger's syndrome, a condition classified under the Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The incident, which was caught on CCTV, occurred in the boy's bedroom on Jun. 13, 2024, during their twice-weekly lessons.

A gag order has been enacted to protect the boy's identity.

Assigned to conduct lessons

Lee was employed by her organisation from January 2024 to Jun. 14, 2024. She was assigned to conduct lessons with the boy in February 2024.

The boy's parents installed a CCTV in the bedroom but did not intervene during the lessons as they trusted Lee to manage him.

On Jun. 13, 2024, at around 3pm, Lee went to the boy's home to conduct their scheduled lesson.

Only Lee and the boy were in the bedroom at all material times, according to court documents seen by Mothership.

At around 5:25pm, as Lee read to the boy by holding a book in front of him and pointing to its contents, he started fidgeting in his seat.

A minute later, Lee instructed the boy to place both of his hands on the table, called the "quiet hands" position, so that he would not act violently or snatch items away.

This was a technique Lee's organisation trained her to use to address behavioural issues in her students.

The boy did not comply and tried to hold the book Lee was reading.

Boy hit her face repeatedly

The boy then pulled the book away from Lee, who told him, "quiet hands", but he did not comply.

Instead, the boy hit Lee in the face, causing her spectacles to fall off.

Lee put her glasses back on and swung her left hand down twice; she also forcefully threw the book onto the floor beside her.

She picked the book back up, threw it on the table, before grabbing it once more and flinging it against the wall.

Court documents stated that in response, the boy hit Lee in the face again.

After being hit in the face for the second time, Lee pointed at the boy and firmly told him to not hit her again.

But the boy resumed and hit her in the face for the third time and grabbed her spectacles off her face.

Lee snatched her spectacles back and stood up from her chair.

Grabbed and dragged victim

At around 5:27pm, Lee used her left hand to grab the boy's right hand before dragging him off his chair and onto the floor, doing so with the intention to cause hurt to the victim.

This act constituted the charge she pleaded guilty to.

After the incident, Lee carried the boy out of the bedroom and reported to the his father that he had hit her in the face.

The boy's father ended the session for the day after numerous unsuccessful attempts to calm his son down, according to court documents.

At about 5:30pm, the father informed the boy's mother of the incident. The mother reviewed the CCTV footage and was shocked.

Afterwards, she contacted Lee's employer and extended a copy of the footage to them.

The mother also called the police at around 7:11pm to report the incident.

The next day, the boy's parents brought him to KK Women's and Children's Hospital to be assessed.

The physical examination noted no gross external injuries.

Lee's employment was terminated a day after the incident on Jun. 14, 2024. She cooperated with police during investigations and was arrested and released on station bail on Mar. 3, 2026.

Prosecution sought fine

The prosecution sought a fine of S$5,000 to S$6,000 as the case was an "exceptional one" where the harm caused was low, citing that the boy sustained no documented injuries and "the offence was an isolated act of ill-treatment which took place over the course of mere seconds".

According to CNA, Principal District Judge Toh Yung Cheong agreed that Lee's culpability was low but noted that she was a behavioural therapist "who could have taken other steps to deal with the situation".

An offender faces up to three years' jail and a maximum fine of S$5,000 or both for voluntarily causing hurt.

The maximum penalty doubles if the offence was committed against a minor under 14 years of age.

Several massage parlours offering "special services" have allegedly popped up along River Valley Road and Mohamed Sultan Road.

The police have raided and shut down the establishments, but they quickly reopen afterwards.

Shin Min Daily News (Shin Min) reported that a total of six massage parlours were found in the area (within 50m distance), with four of them suspected of providing sexual services.

An anonymous source claimed that two of the parlours belong to the same owner.

Investigation

According to Shin Min, the masseuses at two of the establishments appeared to be very cautious, preferring not to discuss services at the counter.

The Shin Min reporter was told to fill out a form with their name and IC number as part of police regulations.

However, once they entered the parlour, the masseuse said that "special services" were offered.

Halfway through the massage, the reporter was asked if they wanted a "prostate massage", priced between S$50 and S$100.

When they declined, the masseuse said that she would only receive S$10 in commissions from a regular massage, and that her pay would be docked if she did not meet the monthly target.

She also revealed that other masseuses work in the shop, and unless there is a special appointment, they are assigned walk-in customers on a rotating basis.

"Sometimes we only get one customer a day. We have no choice but to take this risk."

Business models

When the reporter visited one massage parlour, they were quoted a price of S$150, with regular massage fees added on top.

The reporter remarked that it was expensive and that they intended to inquire at another parlour, but was told that prices at both were the same.

Business owners in the vicinity corroborated Shin Min's findings that two of the massage parlours belonged to the same owner.

One of them was raided twice, in May and July 2026, but the business' licensee was changed afterwards and the parlour continued to operate.

A source claimed that these parlours are open 24 hours a day, but the masseuses rarely stand outside to solicit customers.

Instead, they promote their services online.

According to Shin Min, some of the parlours were found to be advertising themselves on Telegram groups, attaching photos of scantily clad women.

Legitimate ones unbothered

One of the legitimate massage parlours in the area told Shin Min that they were not concerned about the presence of those establishments, which have been increasingly popping up since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Having operated for more than 10 years, the owner said that they served a "different customer base".

"Most of my customers are local residents and regulars, and they know that we are legitimate," she said.

"I posted notices to declare that sexual services are prohibited here, and if anyone comes in inquiring about such services, I will show them the notice and they will leave."