Most of us will not hesitate to help if we learn that friends we grew up with are facing significant challenges in their lives.
However, shared childhood memories are often not enough of a reason for us to throw caution to the wind, as you’ll soon see.
On Saturday (12 Mar), a lady detailed her encounter with an ex-schoolmate, who borrowed $50 from the former before temporarily pulling a Houdini.
Since then, a number of other netizens who were acquaintances with the borrower have also shared similar allegations.
The lady has lodged a police report against her ex-schoolmate.
In a Facebook post last Saturday (12 Mar), a lady named Xin Yi detailed the “scam” involving her ex-secondary schoolmate.
Apparently, Xin Yi received a Facebook message from her ex-schoolmate on Friday (11 Mar), claiming that her daughter was down with Covid-19.
Her ex-schoolmate claimed that she was “stuck at work” and asked if Xin Yi could transfer $50 to her helper so she could buy food for her daughter. The ex-schoolmate also assured Xin Yi that she would return the money after ending work at 10.30pm.
Within 15 minutes, Xin Yi transferred the money via PayNow and assured her ex-schoolmate that her daughter will be fine.
At 10.55pm, Xin Yi sent a text, asking if her ex-schoolmate had transferred the borrowed amount, as previously promised.
The woman claimed she was still rushing a project that was due the next day and said she would transfer the money later on.
Xin Yi insisted that she keep her promise, sharing that everyone has their fair share of struggles in life. She pointed out that she lost her job a month ago but still sent her ex-schoolmate the money as she had trusted her to return it.
However, by about 3pm the next day, Xin Yi said she hadn’t received the funds. She then penned a Facebook post to call out her ex-schoolmate.
Soon after, Xin Yi received a message from her ex-schoolmate, claiming she had fallen asleep and asked for the post to be taken down.
However, Xin Yi stuck to her guns and maintained that she would only take the post down when she received the money.
Her ex-schoolmate’s language then turned slightly coarse as she asked Xin Yi to “delete the f*cking post” and not to “ruin her (my) entire life”.
At about 7.18pm, 24 hours after the whole episode started, the woman shared a screenshot indicating she had transferred $50 to Xin Yi.
Despite having received the money, Xin Yi insisted that she would not be taking down the Facebook post as her ex-schoolmate failed to keep her promise in the first place.
Meanwhile, other netizens have also shared similar allegations in the comments section of Xin Yi’s post.
While Xin Yi could get her money back, others were apparently not as lucky.
Some shared that they had left the ex-schoolmate hanging when she requested.
One netizen even shared their first conversation more than a decade ago, which coincidentally involved the same ex-schoolmate borrowing money.
Someone even went through the trouble of compiling the different reasons the ex-schoolmate cited for borrowing money.
The ex-schoolmate has since deactivated her Facebook account. Xin Yi told MS News that she has lodged a police report against the woman.
Money is often a touchy topic even among the closest of friends. Relationships have gone awry over it.
While some may genuinely want to help others by lending money to those in need, one should never take another person’s kindness for granted.
At the end of the day, if the allegations are indeed true, we hope the ex-schoolmate will reach out to those she owes money to and make the necessary compensations.
Those who require assistance and social support can consider visiting their nearest Social Services Office or calling the ComCare hotline 1800-222-0000.
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Featured image adapted from Facebook.
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