Recently, reports have emerged of Singaporeans falling victim to scams after encountering advertisements for products on social media.
74-year-old Mr Loh is one such individual, having lost over S$70,000 when he downloaded a third-party app to buy Peking duck.
He has since filed a police report.
Speaking to Shin Min Daily News, Mr Loh shared that he came across an advertisement for Peking duck on Facebook named “Xiao Xiao Ya Zi” on 26 Aug.
A 1.5kg Peking duck cost just S$23.80 with an additional S$5 for shipping.
Mr Loh thus found the offer too good to resist, especially for dinner with his family.
“I thought my grandson would like to eat it,” he said. “So I contacted the seller through WhatsApp.”
The seller then told him to download a third-party app called Grab & Go. To complete his order, he had to pay S$5 via PayNow.
The app even had pictures of the meals to allow customers to choose their meals, according to Mr Loh.
Despite this, he grew suspicious and asked the seller if it was a scam. The seller insisted it wasn’t, saying “no one would be cheated of S$5” and that it was a small sum.
Since it was just S$5, Mr Loh decided to proceed with the transaction.
During their conversation, Mr Loh’s phone unexpectedly shut down and subsequently restarted several times.
“I kept trying to turn off the phone, but to no avail,” he said. “The other party said it was a technical problem and he would help me solve it.”
Mr Loh then asked to cancel the transaction, following which the seller asked him to wait for a ‘cancel’ button to appear, but it did not.
At this point, Mr Loh’s wife realised something was amiss and immediately contacted her son-in-law and daughter.
His son-in-law helped him to contact the bank and freeze his account. The morning after, the family called the police.
Mr Loh’s other bank accounts and his SingPass account have been frozen as well to protect his Central Provident Fund (CPF) from the scammers.
Shortly after, the bank informed them that the criminals responsible managed to raise his transaction limit of S$3,000.
They then withdrew S$59,000 through his existing DBS accounts and POSB savings accounts. In addition, they had transferred S$11,000 out via his credit card.
Mr Loh ended up losing over S$70,000 in total.
Explaining that the money he had lost was for his retirement and had been saved up for more than 10 years, Mr Loh added that he was furious with himself for the incident.
“I used to be a businessman,” he said. “I didn’t expect that I would fall into such a trap.”
Responding to queries by Shin Min Daily News, police said they had received a report regarding the matter.
Also read: S’pore Woman Loses S$110K After Downloading App To Buy Durian Tour Tickets, Lodges Police Report
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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News and Digital Trends. Image on the right is for illustration purposes only.
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