Singapore cracks down on ‘pop-up’ brothels in rented flats amid spike in online prostitution

Singapore’s parliament on Monday passed a law designed to crack down on “pop-up brothels” appearing in rented flats in the Singapore heartlands, some of them run by foreign vice syndicates using websites and apps.

Three key changes were made in the amendments to the Women’s Charter, which protects and advances the rights of women and girls in Singapore.

The onus will now be placed on homeowners and tenants who let or sublet their properties to conduct identity checks, such as face-to-face interviews, on potential tenants or subtenants to ensure they know the type of people moving in.

The changes will also allow police to take criminal action against people who run vice activities in Singapore while based overseas, or use websites hosted overseas to provide sexual services in Singapore.

There will also be tougher penalties for vice activities, and even harsher penalties for repeat offences. For example, an owner whose property is used as a brothel will be jailed for up to five years, or fined up to S$100,000 (US$73,660), or both – up from a maximum three-year jail term or S$3,000 fine, or both. For a second and subsequent offence, the maximum jail term is now seven years, up from five years, and the maximum fine is S$150,000, up from S$10,000.

Sun Xueling, the senior parliamentary secretary for home affairs, on Monday cited figures showing growing trends in prostitution services provided in residential areas. Between 2015 and 2018, seven in 10 foreign females who were arrested for advertising their sexual services online were found to be providing their services in residential estates.

In 2015, only 16 per cent of women arrested for vice used an online platform but by last year that figure rose to 55 per cent last year, she said.