Local influencer Eunice Ng, known online as Mermaid Girl, was charged in April 2026 under the Tobacco Act for allegedly advertising e-vaporisers via Telegram. Screenshots of her Telegram stories reportedly showed her boasting that the Health Sciences Authority "didn't manage to catch" her, and she faces fines or jail for first-time offences.
The 26-year-old was charged after court documents showed she had posted a Telegram story in December 2025 offering to collect pre-orders for vapes. "For those who want me to get vape for them, you can send me your preorder list, and I will try to get them. If there is high demand, I will set up a Google Form," she allegedly wrote on her account, which had more than 3,000 followers. Screenshots posted to TikTok also showed her claiming she had "outsmarted" the Health Sciences Authority — the agency that began investigating her that month and confirmed in a December 30 statement that it was aware of the matter. A pre-trial conference for her case was set for April 15.
The bravado proved costly. On May 29, 2026, Eunice Ng pleaded guilty to one count of publishing an advertisement suggesting the purchase of imitation tobacco products, contravening the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act. Court documents showed she had bought five vapes on Telegram at S$13 each around November 2025 to resell for profit, advertised them on her own account, and sold two at S$15 each — continuing until the Health Sciences Authority moved in December. Appearing in court without a lawyer, she asked for leniency, calling the prosecution's requested S$4,000 fine "a bit high." She was fined S$3,500.
The case landed amid Singapore's toughest-ever crackdown on vaping. After laws were tightened in September 2025 — with etomidate, the anaesthetic turning up in "Kpods," listed as a Class C drug — a new Tobacco and Vaporisers Control Act took effect on May 1, 2026: sellers now face fines of up to S$200,000 and six years' jail, while advertising vapes can draw up to S$10,000 or six months' jail for first-time offenders. Prosecutors argued the sentence needed a deterrent effect given the public health stakes.
Eunice Ng's downfall carries a particular irony: an influencer who monetised attention ended up handing investigators their evidence in her own Telegram stories. For Singapore's vape sellers watching the case, the message was unmistakable — the authorities are no longer just seizing devices at the border, but following the sellers' social media all the way to court.