SINGAPORE - Between 2024 and 2025, an 18-year-old went on a “sustained campaign of exploitation and violence”, including sharing a girl’s nude photos and helping his friend forge an NRIC.

The teen pleaded guilty to five charges on Jan 9, including distributing intimate images, voluntarily causing hurt and theft in dwelling. He was 17 when he committed some of the offences and cannot be named, as he is protected under the Children and Young Persons Act.

The court heard that the teen’s friend added him into a group chat on July 17, 2024, where nude photos of the victim were shared.

He saved the intimate photos before they were deleted, and posted them on a public Telegram channel he created later that month.

He also shared the link to the channel on his Instagram page with the caption, “Click here for exclusive content”.

The Telegram channel eventually garnered between 400 and 500 members.

He deleted the channel only when the victim told him that the authorities were aware of the leaked photos.

On Aug 8, 2024, the teen and his classmate stole about $760 worth of items from Popular bookstore at Nex, including two Razer keyboards, a backpack and a laptop bag.

Only $559.80 worth of items were recovered from the duo.

In September 2024, the teen helped the same classmate forge an NRIC.

Using a photo-editing tool and a picture of the latter’s NRIC on the Singpass app, the teen changed his classmate’s date of birth from June 23, 2009 to June 23, 2002 – to suggest that he was 22 years old instead of 15 – and also edited his NRIC number.

The classmate used the forged NRIC to purchase cigarettes and alcohol on three occasions between Sept 1, 2024 and Jan 8, 2025.

The classmate later made a police report on Jan 11, 2025, confessing he had used a forged NRIC to make these purch...