Despite the authorities issuing advisories against scams, members of the public in Singapore continue to fall prey to such schemes.
Just recently, the Singapore police warned about a mooncake scam which 27 people have fallen victim to.
It seems mooncake isn’t the only food to be associated with such unscrupulous activities. A woman recently lost over S$37,000 to a scam involving thunder tea rice.
This apparently happened after she clicked a link and unknowingly installed phishing software which allowed scammers to access her bank account. Several transactions later, scammers left the victim with just six cents in her savings.
According to Shin Min Daily News, 48-year-old Zhong Luo (transliterated from Chinese) recalled seeing a social media advertisement for homemade thunder tea rice on 2 Sep.
After clicking on the link, the 48-year-old was directed to a website, where she saw that the price of the dish was S$7.90, with a buy-two-get-one-free offer.
As there aren’t many thunder tea rice sellers in Singapore, Ms Luo decided to purchase three servings for her family.
She contacted the seller via a messaging app, subsequently receiving a link to fill in her address.
After clicking on the link, Ms Luo’s phone automatically downloaded an app named “Grab and Go”.
The following day, Ms Luo found her phone heating up. Worse still, she could only access her home screen regardless of what she did.
At about 4pm, Ms Luo received a call from the bank asking if she had transferred S$6,000 from her account.
“I immediately asked the bank to freeze the account and explained to them that I did not transfer the money,” she said.
Two hours later at about 6pm, the bank called Ms Luo again, informing her that three transfers were made from her account, amounting to S$37,466.
Ms Luo immediately called the police at this point.
While Ms Luo acknowledged her own mistake in clicking the link, she claimed that there were flaws in the bank’s security system which the scammers took advantage of.
“We asked to freeze the account after 4pm,” she said. Despite her request, additional transfers were still allowed to take place.
With just S$0.06 left in her bank account, Ms Luo said she and her husband had to rely on borrowing money to get by.
Source: Shin Min Daily News
She added that the money she lost was her hard-earned savings over the years and was meant for her retirement.
Speaking to Shin Min Daily News, Ms Luo hoped her ordeal would serve as a warning for others not to fall prey to similar scams.
She also shared that two of her other friends had come across the same advertisement and nearly fell for it too.
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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News.
The authorities have investigated and closed the incident with no follow-ups required, MFA said.
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