S’pore actor Laurence Pang says he was scammed of S$35K by woman he met on dating website

Laurence Pang scammed by woman into reselling products on online platform

While many victims of love scams are ordinary people, even actors are not immune from becoming victims, according to the experience of Singaporean actor Laurence Pang.

The 78-year-old has revealed that he recently lost S$35,000 after meeting a woman on a dating site.

Source: @laur3ncepang on Instagram

Laurence Pang met woman online in December

Mr Pang related his experience to Philippine Senator Raffy Tulfo in his “Raffy Tulfo in Action” programme aired over YouTube.

Source: Raffy Tulfo in Action on YouTube

In an episode released on 16 Jan, the veteran actor told the Senator that last December, he met a woman named “Mika” through PinaLove, a website for those looking for Filipina girlfriends.

She stated in her profile that she was in her 30s.

Source: Raffy Tulfo in Action on YouTube

He was charmed by Mika after chatting with her online, especially since she showed interest in him, he said, adding:

Being an old man, you know, when a young lady says, ‘I like you,’…

He added that he was “stupid” to have believed her.

Woman’s profile photos were fake, actor says

Though Mika looked stunning in her profile photos, Mr Pang said they were all “fake”.

Source: Raffy Tulfo in Action on YouTube

While he never met her in person, he managed to chat with her via video call once and view her real face.

According to a screenshot he took, the woman looked slightly different from her photos, with Mr Tulfo describing her as “sleepy”.

Source: Raffy Tulfo in Action on YouTube

He believes he was reselling products on fake online platform

Soon, Mika convinced Mr Pang to resell products for an e-commerce platform, telling him it was “good money”.

He then transferred cash to her so she could set up an e-commerce platform account, as well as a cryptocurrency account, for him.

At first, he thought he was reselling on well-known Japanese platform Rakuten.

But he later realised he was given a link to a fake version of the website when he wasn’t allowed to withdraw his capital and commission from his sales as long as there was an outstanding order.

Unfortunately, new orders kept on coming in, he said, adding:

I believe that these customers were all fake, generated by the company to prevent me from withdrawing my money.

Even when he tried to remove all his products from the platform, they somehow reappeared and new orders continued coming in again.

Source: Raffy Tulfo in Action on YouTube

He believes his account was hacked, leaving him unable to withdraw the funds he put in.

Laurence Pang allegedly scammed of S$35K by woman

Asked how much money he’d invested, Mr Pang said it was about $27,000 in cryptocurrency.

That amounts to 1.5 million Philippine pesos (S$35,000), Mr Tulfo estimated, telling his interview subject:

You’ve been scammed, I’m sorry to say that to you.

Philippine police caution the public to be vigilant

Later in the show, Mr Tulfo spoke to Lieutenant Wallen Mae Arancillo of the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group, who acknowledged that Mr Pang had fallen for a “romance scam”.

She said the modus operandi of such scams was to gain the sympathy of their victims so they could get them to invest in cryptocurrency.

Source: Raffy Tulfo in Action on YouTube

Mr Pang, who had travelled to the Philippines to track the scammers down, was welcome to visit her office for help any time, she added.

She reminded the public to be vigilant in their online interactions and be aware that they might be speaking with people using dummy accounts to lure them in.

“Without your knowledge, they are getting money from you,” she added.

Also read: Divorced S’pore Man Finds Love Online, Gets Scammed Of S$110K After Sending Her ‘Investment Funds’

Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.

Featured image adapted from @laur3ncepang on Facebook and Raffy Tulfo in Action on YouTube.