SINGAPORE: The personal data of 427 national servicemen from the Singapore Armed Forces and Home Team were sent to each other on Tuesday (Jun 12) due to a technical error made by a vendor in charge of redemption services.



The NSmen had redeemed credits for two rewards programmes - the NS Excellence Award (NSEA) and Celebratory Gifts for NSMen (CG), the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a joint statement on Thursday.



"This occurred as the vendor had deployed an erroneous programme script on the NSEA and CG systems to send out confirmation emails to inform servicemen of their redemption details," they said in the statement, adding that the vendor, Option Gift, had notified and apologised to the affected NSmen.

In a press release on Thursday, Option Gift said that the error caused personal contact details of those NSmen to be sent to each other.



The vendor also indicated that this was an "isolated incident" and that the redemption services for all servicemen are not affected.

MINDEF and MHA said they are investigating the incident and have put in place measures to prevent a recurrence.



NSEA was launched on Apr 1, 2016, replacing the Family Recognition Voucher, to recognise NSmen who have performed well during their operationally-ready National Service training.

NSmen who are either recipients of awards or have performed well during in-camp training or courses are eligible for at least S$100 worth of credits, which can be redeemed for vouchers.



NSmen also receive credits of S$100 for milestones in their lives such as solemnising their marriage, welcoming a newborn or adopting a child under the CG scheme.