Ex-insurance agent known as ‘Lord Voldermort’ faces prison for harassing clients

A Singapore court has sentenced an insurance agent to 29 months in prison for threatening his clients and demanding payment in bitcoin. He posed online as fictional characters such as ‘Lord Voldermort’ and the Hulk's alter ego.

Ye Lin Myint, a 36 year-old Myanmar national and Singapore permanent resident apparently hit hard times at Prudential, the insurance company he worked for. After some of his clients cancelled their scheduled appointments and refused their policies in 2017, the agent decided that threats are a more efficient way to boost his career.

After careful planning, the man reportedly took his wife’s laptop and created email accounts on a Switzerland-based email service that did not require personal data to register. The accounts were registered under the monikers “Lord Voldermort” – a misspelled version of the name given to Harry Potter’s nemesis – and “Dr Bruce Banner,” the alter ego of Marvel Comics character The Incredible Hulk.

He also linked these anonymous accounts to a bitcoin wallet which he created to receive the cryptocurrency from his victims. The threatening emails, signed off as fictional characters, were sent to his former and potential clients, the offender also harassed his victims’ neighbors. A total of 33 people were reportedly affected.

The chilling letters claimed the man behind them was stalking his victims and their families and could physically hurt them.

“I can make your life total humiliated and miserable [sic] in your Myanmar community. I can make you become jobless. I can even physically harm you and your wife and your parents if I want to,” one of the threats from “Lord Voldermort” read as cited by Channel News Asia.

In another case, Ye reportedly asked a victim if the person wants to “stay stressful not knowing whether (your daughter) will be safe or not.”

None of the victims are believed to have sent bitcoin to the offender, but alerted the police instead, deputy public prosecutor Thiagesh Sukumaran said at the court hearing.

On Tuesday, Ye pleaded guilty to five charges of criminal intimidation along with eight charges of harassment. The former agent was handed a jail term of 29 months, less than the prosecutors asked for. After the hearing the man was released on bail. He is set to begin his sentence in February.

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