Phone impersonation scams seem to be on the rise in recent months, so much so that our heartlands are plastered with police posters warning residents against these increasingly innovative scams.
Having said that, it’s not everyday that you hear of a literal phone scam — someone getting scammed of their actual phone.
Ms Amy Yeo recently had the misfortune of nearly falling victim to such a scam, and took to Facebook to warn others against the alleged perpetrator.
In case you’re asking, no it didn’t occur in Yishun.
Here’s her post in full:
According to Ms Yeo’s post, she had just finished drawing money from a POSB ATM in Tampines when she realised she was being followed by the man in the picture.
The man then approached her, asserting wildly that she had stolen his phone.
As proof, he showed Ms Yeo an alleged tracker app on his ‘backup phone’, which was tracking the location of his ‘stolen phone’.
Coincidentally, the location depicted on his backup phone’s display, was exactly where the two of them were standing in real life.
Fortunately, Ms Yeo was not one to be fooled, and hilariously identified the app to be the all-too-familiar Google Maps.
Sensing that the man was up to no good, she threatened to call the po po.
The man appeared unperturbed at first, but when Ms Yeo made the call, he started wandering around and eventually walked away, even before the police arrived.
Netizens’ reactions to her post were slightly mixed.
Most of them advised her to lodge a report with the police.
This netizen thought of a ingenious way to foil the man’s ploy.
Another netizen foresee Tampines becoming the next Yishun — the sway-est estate in Singapore.
But just as we thought Yishun was spared, another netizen claimed that he saw the same guy ‘operating’ in Khatib, just a stone’s throw from Yishun.
Perhaps Yishun’s not so lucky after all.
On an unrelated note, some sharp-eyed netizens pointed out that he might be a cannabist — an observation that’s further backed up by the marijuana-esque logo on his shirt.
Ms Ong’s post may remain merely a one-sided tale for now, since we cannot ascertain whether a police report has been made.
But we hope Singaporeans will nonetheless be more vigilant and not fall victim to such scammers.
Featured image from Facebook and Google Maps.
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