It may surprise some visitors to Singapore to learn that prostitution itself is not an offence. The Government describes its approach as pragmatic: rather than trying to eradicate prostitution, which no country has managed to do, it focuses on keeping organised crime out of vice and on curbing public nuisance. Buying sexual services from a consenting adult is not, in itself, an offence.

That does not mean the sex trade is unregulated. Almost everything around the act is tightly controlled. It is an offence to solicit in public, to live on the earnings of a sex worker, to keep or manage a brothel, to use a website or app in the course of business to offer sexual services, and to pay for sex with anyone below 18. In practice, a small number of long-established brothels in designated areas have operated under close police supervision, with the women working there required to have regular medical check-ups and carry a health card. They are not licensed under any statute, and keeping a brothel remains an offence under section 148 of the Women’s Charter.

Sexual services are sometimes offered for a fee in massage parlours and karaoke lounges. Customers in these venues should be careful, as these operations are likely to be illegal, and the outlets’ licences do not permit sexual services.

Note that many of the vice offences in Part 11 of the Women’s Charter are framed around the prostitution of a “woman or girl”. The Penal Code offences on commercial sex with minors, by contrast, apply whatever the sex of the minor. Section 377A of the Penal Code, which criminalised sex between men, was repealed in January 2023 and is no longer law.

Although the regulations try to protect minors and keep criminal syndicates out, new ways of offering illegal prostitution appear regularly. Social media and the internet have made it easier to advertise such services, which led to the creation of section 146A of the Women’s Charter in 2016. Section 146A targets anyone who, in the course of business, uses a website, app, phone or messaging service to offer or facilitate sexual services in Singapore. Some operators tried to get around the law by running their websites from outside Singapore, so the section was later extended to cover operators overseas as well.

This article looks at some of the issues and regulations relating to the selling of sex in Singapore.

What changed recently

  • 2020: Amendments to the Women’s Charter (Act 36 of 2019) took effect. They raised the maximum fines for most vice offences to $100,000, introduced heavier penalties for repeat offenders, extended section 146A to operators outside Singapore whose services can be reached from Singapore, and placed a duty of reasonable diligence on property owners, agents and tenants who let out premises later used as brothels.
  • 1 January 2020: The Criminal Law Reform Act 2019 came into force. Among other changes, it reworked the rules on mistake as to a minor’s age (see below).
  • January 2023: Section 377A of the Penal Code was repealed.
  • February 2024: The Online Criminal Harms Act 2023 began to take effect. It allows the authorities to direct online services and internet providers to remove or block access to online content linked to specified criminal offences.

Paying for sex with minors

In Singapore, under section 376A of the Penal Code, it is an offence to have sexual penetration with a person under 16 years of age. Under section 376B, it is an offence to obtain sexual services from a person under 18 in return for payment or any other reward, regardless of whether the minor consented. Simply communicating with someone to obtain such services from a minor is also an offence under section 376B(2).

Some of the most infamous headlines in the Singapore news have been about high-profile cases involving online prostitution scandals. Well-known figures such as company directors, civil servants and police officers have been involved and found guilty of paying for sex with under-age prostitutes.

Any Singapore citizen or permanent resident who pays for sex with a minor outside Singapore can still be prosecuted here under section 376C of the Penal Code. The same section also covers anyone, of any nationality, who is in Singapore and arranges this with a minor abroad, or who is abroad and arranges it with a minor in Singapore.

Is ignorance a defence to the charge of paying for underage sex?

As a general rule, section 377D of the Penal Code says that a mistake about a person’s age is not a defence to a sexual offence. Before 2020, offenders aged 21 or above could not rely on any mistake as to age at all. There was a 2015 case involving a 52-year-old man who was imprisoned for 9 weeks after buying sex from an underage prostitute whom he believed to be 19 years old.

Since the 2019 reforms took effect, there is a narrow exception. Where the minor was 16 or 17, an accused person can argue that they reasonably believed the minor was 18 or older. The defence is not available if the accused did not take all reasonable steps to check the minor’s age, or if they had previously been charged with certain sexual offences against minors. The law also makes clear that seeing someone smoke, or enter a venue such as a nightclub, is not a reasonable basis for believing they are an adult. There is no such defence where the minor was under 16.

Living on the earnings of a sex worker, or managing a brothel

The term commonly used for living on the earnings of a prostitute is “pimping”. It is illegal in Singapore, as is keeping or managing a brothel. Part 11 of the Women’s Charter covers these offences.

Under section 372 of the Penal Code, it is also an offence to sell, let for hire or otherwise dispose of a minor (defined in that section as a person under 21 years of age) for the purposes of prostitution.

Again, there have been many high-profile news reports of people who have fallen foul of these laws and been punished severely. A 2012 case saw a 39-year-old pimp recruit escort girls who performed sexual services and earned him hundreds of thousands of dollars. There was one minor amongst the escorts, who was advertised as being 18 years old. The pimp claimed he did not know she was under 18, as she had used her elder sister’s ID card and lied about her true age. However, he admitted discovering her true age shortly after she began to work for him. He lied about her age to customers, and lived off her substantial earnings from sex work. For these crimes he was given a 58-month jail sentence and fined $90,000.

Another case, in 2016, concerned the owner of a social escort agency who was jailed for just over 7 years and fined $130,000 for 25 criminal offences. These included having sex with a minor, buying sex from minors, making obscene films, and living off the earnings of a prostitute. The judge also noted that some of the offences had involved girls as young as 15 years old.

Both of these cases were decided before the 2020 increases in penalties described below.

Restrictions on Soliciting for Sex

Under section 19 of the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act, soliciting for prostitution in public (in other words, looking for trade) is prohibited. It states that a person “who, in any public road or place, persistently loiters or solicits for the purpose of prostitution or for any other immoral purpose” is guilty of an offence. A fine of up to $1,000 applies to first-time offenders, and subsequent offences can lead to fines of up to $2,000, a jail term of up to 6 months, or both.

Under section 294(a) of the Penal Code, sex workers can also be prosecuted for obscene acts in public, even in a red-light district. Doing “any obscene act in any public place” to the annoyance of others is punishable by imprisonment of up to 3 months, a fine, or both.

Keeping, managing or assisting in the management of a brothel is punishable under section 148 of the Women’s Charter by a fine of up to $100,000, imprisonment of up to 5 years, or both. Repeat offenders face a fine of up to $150,000, up to 7 years’ imprisonment, or both. Anyone who knowingly lives wholly or partly on the earnings of a sex worker faces mandatory imprisonment of up to 7 years under section 146, and may also be fined up to $100,000. For repeat offenders, the maximum rises to 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $150,000.

Landlords and tenants

Section 148 also catches owners, agents, tenants and occupiers of premises used as brothels. A person who lets out a flat or room that is then used as a brothel can be guilty of an offence unless they prove that they did not know, and could not with reasonable diligence have found out, how the premises would be used. The Women’s Charter gives examples of reasonable diligence, such as personally checking the prospective tenant’s identity documents (for example an NRIC, passport or work permit) and meeting them face to face before the tenancy starts. Owners who live abroad and use an agent should check that the agent has actually carried out these steps.

Soliciting Sexual Services Online

Section 146A of the Women’s Charter, introduced in 2016 and extended in 2020, covers the use of online and other remote services to offer sexual services. It is an offence for a person, in or outside Singapore, to use a “remote communication service” with a Singapore link in the course of business to offer or facilitate the provision of sexual services by a woman or girl in Singapore in return for payment, or to organise, manage or supervise those services. A remote communication service includes any website, web service or app, voice telephony and messaging systems. A service has a Singapore link if someone in Singapore can access it, even if access needs a password.

The penalty is a fine of up to $100,000, imprisonment of up to 5 years, or both. Repeat offenders face a fine of up to $150,000, up to 7 years’ imprisonment, or both. It is a defence for the accused to prove that they did not know, and could not with reasonable diligence have found out, that the service had a Singapore link.

The Singapore Government has commented that the rise of online media has enabled vice operators to widen their reach while using the internet to protect their anonymity. The amendments aim to address this online activity. Police can also take action against anyone facilitating the prostitution of a person, such as by setting up a website to advertise their services. Anyone receiving payment for that service, either in cash or in kind, may also face prosecution.

Section 146(1A) addresses the wider scope of criminal activities relating to prostitution. Any person “who knowingly solicits, receives or agrees to receive any gratification as an inducement or reward for providing any service, and who by providing that service does or will aid the prostitution of another person (being a woman or girl)” is guilty of an offence. They face mandatory imprisonment of up to 7 years and may also be fined up to $100,000 (up to 10 years and $150,000 for repeat offenders).

The definition of “gratification” includes:

  • Any money, gift, loan, fee, reward, commission, valuable security or other property or interest in property of any description, whether movable or immovable;
  • Any office, employment or contract;
  • Any payment, release, discharge or liquidation of any loan, obligation or other liability, whether in whole or in part;
  • Any other service, favour or advantage of any description.

Police have said that they will make every effort to crack down on online vice activities, and home owners are advised to check that their tenants are not carrying out vice activities in their properties.

Foreign nationals and prostitution

Foreign sex workers face additional risks under immigration law. Under section 8(3)(e) of the Immigration Act, a person who is a prostitute, or who lives on or receives the proceeds of prostitution, is a prohibited immigrant. People who procure or bring sex workers into Singapore are also prohibited immigrants under section 8(3)(f). A foreign national found working in the vice trade is liable to have their pass cancelled and to be removed from Singapore, in addition to any criminal charges. Our article on common immigration offences explains the related offences in more detail.

The act of selling or buying sex between consenting adults is not itself an offence. However, almost every way of organising, advertising or profiting from it is. Public soliciting, pimping, brothel-keeping, online vice businesses and any commercial sex with a person under 18 are all criminal offences, and anyone involved risks being raided or prosecuted.

Common questions

Selling or buying sex between consenting adults is not in itself an offence. Related activities, such as soliciting in public, running or working for a brothel or online vice service, and living on a sex worker’s earnings, are offences under the Women’s Charter and the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act.

Is it illegal to pay for sex in Singapore?

Paying a consenting adult for sex is not, by itself, an offence. Paying for sex with anyone under 18 is an offence under section 376B of the Penal Code, and a mistake about age is only a defence in narrow circumstances.

Is it illegal to book a sex worker through a website or app?

The main online offence in section 146A targets people who run or use websites, apps or messaging services in the course of business to offer or facilitate sexual services. Customers can still commit offences, for example if the person is under 18, and dealing with online vice operators can expose them to scams or extortion.

Can a landlord be charged if a tenant runs a brothel?

Yes. Under section 148 of the Women’s Charter, an owner, agent or tenant who lets out premises later used as a brothel can be guilty unless they prove they did not know and could not have found out with reasonable diligence, such as checking the tenant’s identity documents and meeting them in person.

What should I do if I am being investigated for a vice offence?

Get legal advice before giving a statement to the police where possible. Even if you intend to admit the facts, a lawyer can help with charges, bail and mitigation, as explained in our article on why you may still need a lawyer if you plead guilty. Our criminal defence lawyers can advise you on vice-related and sexual offence charges.