Tourist loses S$921 camera after asking stranger to take her photo at Fort Canning

Tourist asks stranger to help take her photo at Fort Canning, woman leaves without returning it

A solo tourist who asked a stranger to help take her photo at Fort Canning ended up losing her S$921 camera.

The 21-year-old student from China, named only as Ms Lee, told Shin Min Daily News that the woman left without returning her camera.

Source: Shin Min Daily News

Tourist hands phone & camera to woman behind her at Fort Canning

The incident took place at about 12.45pm on Thursday (20 Feb), when Ms Lee visited the Fort Canning Tree Tunnel, a famous photo-taking spot that was even featured in a Coldplay music video.

It was unsurprisingly crowded, so she waited in line and started talking to a woman behind her who was wearing a white dress and straw hat.

Source: Shin Min Daily News

When it was her turn, she asked the woman to help her take a photo, handing over her handphone and a DJI Osmo Pocket 3 camera.

Woman disappears with camera, tourist searches Fort Canning for her

After the woman took photos for Ms Lee, she returned the phone to her and asked her to check the photos.

The Chinese student said she took no more than 3 minutes to climb downstairs and check her photos.

However, she suddenly realised that her camera was still with the woman, who had disappeared.

Despite searching the park for her, Ms Lee couldn’t find her.

Police report made over incident

Ms Lee called the police, who checked nearby CCTV footage and found that the woman was travelling with a middle-aged man.

Source: Shin Min Daily News

However, as there are no CCTV cameras at the Tree Tunnel, it was difficult to trace their whereabouts.

The police confirmed to Shin Min that they had received the report and were investigating the case.

Tourist paid S$921 for camera lost at Fort Canning

Ms Lee, who is from Shenyang in Liaoning province, said she bought the camera for 5,000 Chinese yuan (S$921) just four months ago.

It cost a lot of money for a student, so she was “heartbroken” by the loss.

Source: DJI

Customer service told her the camera doesn’t have a global positioning system and can be used even after it’s reported missing.

If the woman wanted to return it, she could have contacted her via customer service or the police, Ms Lee added.

Tourist offering reward for camera

Ms Lee said that besides the camera itself, the photos inside contained “precious memories”.

They were of her travels in Singapore over the past few days as well as images from months ago that were not backed up, she added.

Thus, she’s willing to offer a reward of 4,000 yuan (S$737) to the couple if they return the camera.

She left Singapore at noon on Saturday (22 Feb) and hoped to get it back by then.

Also read: S’porean Tourist Allegedly Loses S$3,000 At Johor Night Market, Visitors Warned Of Pickpockets

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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News and DJI.