Scams have continued to claim victims’ money in Singapore, taking various forms including third-party apps that they have to download to make purchases.
A woman recently fell for one such scam after she downloaded an app to purchase healthy meals advertised on Facebook.
She realised something was amiss when she later tried to contact the page’s admin multiple times but failed. She promptly notified the authorities.
Unfortunately, it was too late and she ended up losing over S$18,000.
Speaking to Shin Min Daily News, the woman, Mrs Deng (name transliterated from Chinese), said that she came across an advertisement for a company named ‘Healthy BOX’ on Facebook on 25 July.
They offered healthy meals which appealed to her, especially as three dishes and one soup cost only S$58, including delivery.
Source: Shin Min Daily News
Mrs Deng contacted the company through Facebook to express her interest before registering her phone number and arranging for the delivery.
On 26 July, while she was at work, an employee from the company allegedly called her and asked for her personal particulars including her address.
Noticing that their accent sounded Singaporean, she felt that the company was legitimate.
After providing her personal information, Mrs Deng received a link via WhatsApp, instructing her to download an app called ‘Grain’.
The app had an authentication process with an electronic menu for her to choose the dishes.
Before she could proceed to use it, the company contact told Mrs Deng to first pay a S$10 deposit via PayNow. She attempted to do so but found that the phone number they gave her was invalid.
“[They] said they would deal with it and kept asking me questions,” she told Shin Min Daily. “Then the line was suddenly disconnected. When I called again, [they] did not answer.”
Several calls later also failed, leading Mrs Deng to realise that something was wrong. She quickly uninstalled the app before asking her colleagues for help.
They helped to contact her bank and freeze her accounts, but it was too late by then, as money had already been transferred out. Mrs Deng promptly reported the matter to the police.
Checking her transaction history, she discovered that there had been four transfers amounting to over S$18,000.
Her husband told Shin Min Daily News that she was usually very discerning when it came to matters like these.
Unfortunately, the scammers’ tactics were very sophisticated, making them hard to foil.
“[I] hope our experience can alert the public and prevent other victims from being fooled,” he said.
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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News and Brian Ramirez on Pexels, for illustration purposes only.
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