With scammers improving their methods, it can be frighteningly easy to fall victim to them.
This was the case for a security guard in Singapore, who came across a job scam via Telegram.
He ended up losing over S$155,000, which consisted of his savings over 12 years.
To make matters worse, the scammers taunted him when he informed them that he was going to report them to the authorities.
According to Shin Min Daily News, Mohan, 44, received a text from “Ambient Revue.com” on Telegram, stating that they were offering him a job.
He expressed his interest and a woman named “Yu Thing” contacted him.
She explained that he needed to register an account on a website to earn commissions through online tasks.
However, he would need to deposit a sum of money before receiving instructions for each task.
“Yu Thing” added that after completing 35 of such tasks, he would be able to withdraw the deposit along with the commission.
Mr Mohan then sent money to different accounts on 13 separate occasions from 19 June to 28 July, giving up a total of S$155,081.
One such transfer involved S$59,355 in a single day.
Mr Mohan proceeded to ask if he could withdraw the money but was told to send another S$120,000.
Feeling that something was amiss, he pointed out that they had informed him he could access the funds after completing the tasks.
“[They] said that I was too slow to complete the tasks and needed to pay another S$120,000 yuan in advance,” he said. “Only then did I realise that I might have been cheated.”
Mr Mohan subsequently told the scammers that he would contact the police, but they said it didn’t matter.
In fact, they went so far as to tell him to send them the police report, stating they would “follow up” on it.
Shortly after, Mr Mohan found he could not contact the scammers any longer.
He told Shin Min Daily News that the incident caused him to lose all the money he had saved up from working over the past 12 years.
With nothing left in his bank account, he hopes his ordeal would warn others to be more cautious.
“I don’t think I can get my money back,” he said. “So I hope everyone will learn from it and not become the next victim.”
Responding to queries by Shin Min Daily News, police confirmed that they received a report on the matter and investigations are ongoing.
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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News and Adem AY on Unsplash, for illustration purposes only.
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