InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

[randomwalk]

Cell phones exposing more cheating spouses
(DPA)

29 December 2003



SINGAPORE - No longer does a suspicious wife in Singapore rely on lipstick on her husband’s collar or perfume to suspect an affair.


Nearly nine out of every 10 cases of extramarital affairs are exposed through cellular telephone habits, private investigators and lawyers told the newspaper Streats on Monday.

Clients cite suspicious SMS messages and mobile phone calls their spouses receive as reasons for wanting them investigated.

Vince Mok, who has handled 40 such cases this year, told of a client who noticed her husband would go to the balcony when he received certain calls.

“Late one night, while he was asleep, she checked the call register on his cell phone,” Mok was quoted as saying.

The wife hired him to follow her husband. “True enough, he was fooling behind her back”, he said.

Other firms said nearly all of their cases of infidelity involved tell-tale signs on cellular phones. Wives who cheat on their husband, roughly one in 10 cases, also rely on their portable phones, they said.

While SMS messages are admissible as evidence in a divorce suit, lawyers said they only prove a liaison exists, but do not prove adultery.

“Judges here are relatively cautious and often want collaborative evidence such as entries in a hotel register or testimony by a private investigator that the spouse had spent time alone with a partner in a room,” a lawyer said.