Looking for Victim of Blogshop Scam

Dear readers,

A producer from MediaCorp has approached us for help to search for a victim of blogshop scam for one of their programmes.

We believe the programme would help to enlighten/alert other Singaporeans and foreigners. Thus, if you were a victim of a blog shop scam, or you have a friend who has experienced it, do contact us with your name and contact number. We would forward your contact directly to Manoj, the producer.

Please do not type your contact details into this blog entry's comment.

Below is the email we have received.

Hello,

My name is Manoj and I am a producer at MediaCorp. I am currently working on the webisodes for an upcoming Channel 5 series.

Basically the webisodes aim to educate youth on internet based activities. One of the themes we are highlighting is blogshop scams.

As your website is established for being against online scams in Singapore, I was wondering if you could recommend someone whom we could feature in our webisode. The person should have been a victim of an online scam involving a blogshop.

I hope you would be keen on collaborating with us. If you are keen, please do contact me at [email removed to avoid sender from being spammed]

Looking forward to hearing a positive reply from you.

Manoj

Google Event - VIP

got a call from UNKNOWN calming that his from google company and said that i got chosen to be their VIP for tml event, oh well. of cause i entertain them ! HAHAHAHA. Sorry mdm how old are you? I'M 40! single or married? Married. Oh so you have a husband. SORRY I HAVE 3 HUSBANDS! Ohhh!!cool! YEA WHAT YOU WANT? oh actually we are giving you $70Cash and $200 Shopping voucher if you attend our event t
ml at 7pm, you dont need to pay anything. OH SO GOOD AH, OKAY LA! so you coming down with your lovely husband tml right? WHICH HUSBAND YOU WAN ME TO BRING DOWN TML?! ehhhh so mdm i'll see you tml 7pm is that okay? YOU HAVEN ANSWER ME! WHICH HUSBAND YOU WAN ME TO BRING DOWN? anyone will do, how old is your husband? 45YEARS OLD! okay later my manager will call you and send you a sms. SURE!! *didnt pick up any phone calls later on, jitao spam me 10 miss call, they sibei free, so i entertain them also HAHAHAHA*

A girl received a call from someone claiming to be from Google and invited her to their "event". It seemed like the unknown person did not even know of her age...

We have no idea what trick is unknown person is up to.

Janice Tan Fake Facebook Account

Another fake account by the name of "Janice Tan" (https://www.facebook.com/janice.tan.184007) has been exposed.

She seemed to be "flawless" for the past few months, adding guys to her list, updating her profile with statuses and "new" photo, appearing online in Facebook Chat sometimes. Her Facebook account just appeared like any other hot girl's account.

It was only until hours ago when she used another girl's photo, though without the head portion, she was being seen through.



"fell in rain and bump knee... paaiiinnnnn......"

The owner of the photo is called "Eve Lim", an ex model. The photo was taken years back.

When Eve approached her, she blocked Eve in Facebook straightaway, and also removed the photo. It was too late since we had already made a printscreen.

We have no idea what is her motive. The scammer seems to have created a few fake accounts...

Injury Extortion Scam at Johor Bahru Custom

We are not sure if this is absolutely a scam or insanity case.

We were informed of a middle aged lady who was presented at Johor Bahru custom. She would approach people and accuse them of banging into her that caused an injury on her arm. She would point to a mole and insist that it is an injury.

She would then follow her victim throughout the custom and make sure all the passers-by can hear her story.

We believe this could be a case of an indrect extortion. The lady could be expecting her target to respond offer her compensation instead. Of course, there is also a possibility that this lady is just insane.

People who happen to experience such incident should keep clam and ignore the lady completely although her continuous accusation might cause awkwardness for a long period of time.

Fake Comments from SEO Companies

Similar to many blog owners, we do experience frequent comment spams in our entries.


Some examples would be:

Hi there, awesome site. I thought the topics you posted on were very interesting. I tried to add your RSS to my feed reader and it a few. take a look at it, hopefully I can add you and follow...

(Hyperlink text)



I actually enjoyed reading through this posting.Many thanks...

(Hyperlink text)



Hi there, awesome site. I thought the topics you posted on were very interesting. I tried to add your RSS to my feed reader and it a few. take a look at it, hopefully I can add you and follow...

(Hyperlink text)



My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!

(Hyperlink text)

Usually, these comment spams will not have any targeted type of blogs, except those blogs that are being ranked higher in Google that their bots are able to locate. Hence, most of the comments are inclusive of compliments that can be applied to any blog generally, and followed by hyper-linked keywords that the spammers want to target.

We have blogged about this some time back. This blog entry is, however, to highlight spams from SEO companies. SEO means Search Engine Optimization, which we label it, jokingly as, flirting with Google to get your website shown at the top of searches.

Business owners who own any website may consider engaging services from these rich SEO service providers, however, do weigh your reputation.

If part of the SEO company's tactic is to spam all blogs with such comment that includes your company website at the bottom, it will portray your business very negatively.

Think again if you are deciding to engage services from such spammers. Weigh the consequences.

On our side, Scams Singapore have to keep our comments moderation on so as to filter off such scam. We do not wish our visitors to click onto the URL on the fake comments accidentally. If you own a blog, do be responsible for your visitors as well.

Twitter Direct Message Scam

If you are an active Twitter user, you would have probably received direct message (DM) from a few of the people you are following.

hey this person is writing cruel things that are about you http://URL
hey this person is making up dreadful things that are about you http://URL
hey this user is writing offensive posts that are about you http://URL

These are similar to the previous Twitter DM scam. Please do not click on the URL at the back of the message.

Do warn your friend about it if you have received similar message from him/her.

In fact, we are quite surprised that such hoax is able to sustain for so long with more preys falling for the trick, causing an "explosive" effect.

Another Online Shopping Scam

We have seen a scam alert posted by Facebook user Joan Ter who is a victim of an online shopping scam.

Please beware of the scammer. As extracted from the Facebook post:

Hi All,

DO NOT buy anything from the seller holding bank account no. 073-27352-8.

PLEASE SHARE THIS MESSAGE ON YOUR FB PAGE TO PREVENT OTHERS TO FALL INTO HIS/HER TRAP !!! THANK YOU
...
This happen on myself on 02 Sept 12, I've ordered a luggage from Hong Gadget. Till now I still haven't received the item and I'm blocked from his/her FB right after payment was done. After few of my friends trying to help me to PM him/her, my friends was blocked as well and he/her change her FB name to Sumiko Gadget.

We spread the picture around and today we found out that he/her created another FB account to con buyers. I add Loewe Sim as friend after I suspect he/she is Hong/Sumiki Gadget coz all the pictures of the items are 100% similar from Hong/Sumiko Gadget. Immediately he blocked me. So I ask my friend (which is already in his new FB account) to purchase an item and ask for bank account number for payment.

And confirm that he is the same person who con me. I have already made a police report, I hope those who have conned by him/her will also make a police report and have this person nab!

Fake Policeman Scam

We have received a blog comment a couple of months ago regarding a phone scam. Sorry for not posting this up earlier because it has gone into the spam list automatically.

Fraudster Threatening Sex crime: I received a mail to call a number 9350 2840. The call got cut and received obscene message soliciting pros. I replied asking for identity and later a stupid scamster called from 85870482 stating that he is a cop and I need to meet him at jurong west police station. He said some guy having no 85958031 and complained about me because i messaged her daugher (mob9350 2840). I knew I did not msg anything wrong still he called me.
I subsequently searched this number in the internet and i found a link that this guy/guys has/have been threatening many people link:http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/82692175
These miscreants should be punished. Please suggest a way to post this link to police anonymously to help fellow singaporeans to face these kind of cheap crooks

Do note that the mobile numbers of the tricksters may change. We hope you will just remember that there is this kind of trick and not fall for it in future.

Gold Jewellery Scam

We have received an email from one of our visitors regarding gold jewellery scams in Singapore. She is currently residing in Europe having spent several years living in Singapore.

Below is the original email, unedited:

I am submitting this report in the hope that I can help others to avoid a particularly well-executed gold jewellery scam which I fell victim to.

Whilst living for several years in Singapore I decided that I would have individual items of white and yellow gold melted down and made into just two pieces. All of my items had sentimental value to me, having been given to me as Birthday / Christmas / Anniversary gifts, but I felt I did not wear them enough and that if they were re-made into just two bangles then I probably would wear them on a daily basis.

Before taking them to a jeweller, I photographed all of the items and weighed them (one of the photographs actually shows some of the items on the scales, being weighed). I then separated the white gold and yellow gold into two envelopes and took them to De Silva Jewellers, 01-18 Tanglin Shopping Centre. I had used De Silva on earlier occasions for small repairs and as he seemed to be a well established and reputable jeweller I took my items to him and asked if he could melt them down and remake them into two bangles of my own designs. I explained that they were all of sentimental value and that I did not want to sell them but felt happy with the idea of having them re-modelled.

He made notes and sketches of the designs I wanted and weighed my gold and issued receipts recording the individual items and their corresponding weight and we agreed a price for carrying out the work (total S$2000).

Over the following weeks I visited De Silva several times to discuss my exact requirements and to ensure that he understood exactly what I wanted him to do, and eventually he informed me that the bangles were ready for collection and I was happy with the design and fit of both and especially happy that they had been made from my original pieces which were of sentimental value to me.

Several months later I popped into De Silva with my husband as he wanted to buy himself a gold chain and whilst there I glanced in a glass display case and to my surprise and shock saw three of my original white gold pieces being offered for sale. How could this be? I had in my possession a white gold bangle made from these very pieces by De Silva. When I challenged De Silva he became very agitated and said that it was normal practice to keep some pieces for re-sale and this was how he made his profits (I would have thought S$2000 would have covered his profits very nicely).

At this point I felt very distressed and left his premises. I then sent De Silva an email communication informing him that I wanted the return of my original pieces and to remove them from his display cabinet immediately and that if I did not hear from him by return I would make a report to the Police. I then returned to his premises and asked for the items. At first he said he no longer had them, then that he had sold them, and finally that if I returned 30 minutes later he would give them back to me.

I did not trust him to keep to his word, so went straight to the Police Office and filed a report. The result of this was that the police confiscated the pieces De Silva had kept and said they would investigate.

Because of what had happened, I looked out my photographs and notes including weights, which I had made prior to taking my items to be melted down, compared them to the receipts De Silva had given me and realised that he had recorded much less than the actual weights I had given him. I thought I had taken all reasonable precautions before handing over my jewellery to him, but I had let him weigh the items on scales which were out of my sight and trusted that the receipts he gave me were a true record and did not at that point compare them with my own notes.

A final twist to this story is that before I realised that I had been defrauded by De Silva I had recommended him to several friends, one of whom decided that she would do the same as I had and took her small gold items to him to be melted down and made into something different. As soon as I realised that I had been defrauded I contacted her and she went immediately to De Silva and took her pieces back (luckily he had not begun the process of melting them down). When she returned home she weighed her gold and then looked at the receipt that De Silva had given to her and saw that he had recorded weights much lower than the actual pieces weighed. At this point we realised that not only was De Silva being dishonest about using customers’ own pieces, which would achieve much more in re-sale terms, but that he was also defrauding them by giving false weights thereby ‘skimming’ gold for his own use.


The friend in question also made a statement to the Police as it was clear that De Silva had also intended to defraud her. The Police informed me that her statement would be used as additional evidence in my case, but that they could not take any action on her behalf as the jeweller had not actually carried out the work.

Time passed and eventually I was informed that no action would be taken against De Silva. Despite all the evidence which I had submitted including photographs, notes, receipts etc., and the additional statement from my friend I was told that the case would be closed. Of course, I am very disappointed by this decision, but I am more baffled than anything. I have asked how the Singapore Judiciary reached their decision but have been told this is ‘confidential information’. I also repeatedly asked what had happened to the confiscated items and only after months of repeatedly asking was I informed that the items were being processed for return to De Silva.

I have now returned to live in Europe and feel very sad that I have such a bad feeling about Singapore. I feel very let down, not only by De Silva but also by the judiciary and I am currently planning to take out civil legal proceedings as I really do not think that this sort of fraud should be allowed to continue unchallenged. I have lost hope of ever getting my lovely pieces returned to me, but I hope at least that my story will make others think very carefully before entering into any similar arrangements with De Silva.

We feel quite disheartened to receive such complaint. Although Scams Singapore is not able to investigate and testify for the scam incident, we do believe such form of gold scams do exist in Singapore - low crime doesn't mean no crime.

People who are being conned by such jewellery shop, please lodge police report in order to prevent such scammers from cheating more people!

Nevertheless, we wish to warn everyone that if you are going to hand over your gold to any jewellery shop, be sure to weigh the gold, take photos and make sure the person who takes over your gold indicates the correct weight on the receipt.

Online Scams Targeting Blogshop Owners

This is similar to another Customer Scam on E-Commerce Website.

Blog Shop owners should take note of this.

Here is a Credit card scam that they are doing. They order from 1800.00 to 5000.00 dollars worth of product off your website by credit card. The billing and shipping address match. As soon as the order it, They want you to ship it immediately, and wear you out daily about getting the product shipped asap. It is obvious now that it was a stolen credit card because 30 days later, you will get a no authorization to purchase against your shopping cart. I was using pay-pal pro processor for my shopping cart which handles credit cards but does not give you any seller protection which I found out later.They only do seller protect on Pay-pal only and not all the time. Once the no authorization hits, pay-pal takes that amount out of your account immediately. They then fight for you to resolve the issue with the credit card company. With out letting the whole world know the outcome, the bottom line is the scammer has the product. You paid for the product and then your account gets hits for the entire amount when the no authorized purchase contacts pay-pal which puts you negative for what ever the amount was. If you send some product out, they tell their buddies and what happen to me is that 5 of them ordered product all before the first no authorization hit which means there was money and product going everywhere and in the end you have no protection on the orders, the product that did get sent you will no longer see and you will be responsible for the money on it. This has been a horrible and very expensive scam that was done to me and all I did was have products to sell on the internet from my website. My site has some very expensive items , so it did not take many items to really rack up the money which has all fallen on me. Now, I can no longer take a order from a legitimate customer because my pay-pal is in the negative. If a order comes in, it just makes my account less negative. Then you would have to try and chase that money down. It has been a nightmare to say the least. A lot of the times they ask if you take credit cards as the first email. Be very careful as these Singapore scammers are probably from Indonesia or Malaysia using freight forward addresses at the airport in Singapore. All the address's were on Airport Rd, Bldg. what ever. BEWARE..

House Rental Scam - Property Agent Scam

Dear Friends,

I just want to make aware all the people who are searching for Rented houses.

There are people in group who will put an Ad. on gumtree or other website for Rented house 2+1 or 3+1. they will ask the Rent lesser then the market price like (1400 - 1700 for 2+1) and (1700 to 1900) for 3+1.
Once people see this less price Ad and call the number which they mention in the Ad. One Lady mostly will pick the phone (some time could be guy also). Lady is of age around 30 -35 blend cut may be chinese. (Name - Melza)

She will arrange the meeting with u and show u the house and will say will paint the house and do all cleaning and other work etc.
She will say they are the Management company(TDAP) and NOT the agent. So we will take care of the house for whole tenure for any demage etc.

Once you are impressed with her talks and less rental. She will ask 2 months deposite, 1 month rent and 1 month management fees. And will ask to deposite money in her comapny account.

She will give u aggreement papar and deposit slip evrything very nicely and will agree for your move in date.
But as your move in date will come near she will say house is not available. And says I will show u another house or move u in another house for time being.

she will keep u showing many houses but will never give u those houses. And you will be stuck because youe move in date is near and u can not find new house also. If u ask ur money she will not agree for refund and if she agrees to refund she will give you a Cheque which will get bounced latar on when u deposite in your bank account. As they will issue you closed account cheque.

Many people they have targeted mostly Indain families who can not run behind them to get money back, they r taking advantage. Also they do not pay the owners and agents from whom they take houses.

Many people are their victim (I am also one of their victim). So I do not want any other people to suffer like me and others who are suffering mental and physical tortour. I compalined to police also but do not know when action will be taken care.

So plssssssssss my friends do not get traped to get Rented house on seeing cheaper Rent. And from any company says they r management company. they are 3-4 people made a gang and doing scam and fraud to innocent people. They do have company office also. do not get impressed seeing their office.

Note : they will give you all the documents very neatly (like agreement, deposit slip and money transfred slip etc.) but, at last these documents will not be helpful. Once money gone its gone.

So, pls get house only through register agents under (CEA) and ask there ID cards. and do meet owner before taking any house.

pls take all the precautions before giving your hard earned money.

Thanks for your attention. And voice out for any fraud or cheating you come accross to safe others.

A reader has posted the above rental scam on our website.

We would advise everyone to check with CEA when in doubt of the property agent.

Phone Scams Regarding Computer Being Hacked

The Singapore Police Force has warned the public not to fall prey to phone scams involving internet security. 32 cases have been reported since the beginning of this year.

On June 14, a woman had received a phone call from someone who claimed to be an employee of a well-known software company. The scammer told her that some Malaysians were trying to hack into her computer, followed by selling her a security licence in order to protect her computer.

After she handed over her credit card details, she realised S$1,300 was stolen from her account.

"I asked them to let me talk to my husband, but they said no, I had to make a decision that time, or else my computer would be blacklisted... I gave my credit card number and one-time password. Suddenly the screen went blank and some amount was charged to my account, and it was in euros," she said.

The public is advised not to divulge their credit card details to unknown person. Software company will not have your contact details. Therefore, in emergency situation, you will receive call from your Internet Service Provider (ISP), which can be Starhub, SingNet or M1. However, none of the companies would provide such security service.

Online Shopping Scams - Monroe Trends

One reader of ours is being scammed by a Facebook account selling MAC brushes and other cosmetics.

Be careful of Monroe Trends on Facebook selling MAC brushes and other cosmetics. Profile has been deleted but there might be similar scams online.

After transferring $, seller came back with an offer to buy 2 products at a discounted price. I agreed and transferred more $. Said delivery will take about 1-2 weeks as items are from Canada warehouse.

Seller then deleted facebook account and all I have is the account number. POSB SAVINGS :145-14097-8

Please be careful when shopping online, especially with individual sellers.

I got burnt this time :(

For online blogshop or Facebook page shopping, it is good to get recommendation from friends.

Serial Rapist Scams - Drugs

In this age of Internet, more and more couples have begun knowing each other through social media. It is indeed easy to make friends online because it is less awkward to be rejected via the Internet. The Internet has helped people who have less confidence or are too busy to socialise, to make more friends and find their potential halves.

However, nothing is perfect in this world. There are definitely going to be scammers who try to take advantage of our newage medium. Online dating scams emerge one after another.

We have foreign guys trying to trick Singapore ladies into "bailing" them out from the local police, Singapore couple and foreign girls extorting Singapore guys after making them reveal their private parts through webcam, foreign girls alluring Singapore guys into their websites, and the most recent news involves in a local guy dating girls out, spiking their drinks and rape them without them knowing.

Azuar Ahamad, 41, managed to take advantage of 22 women he met through SpeedDate (a Facebook application) by using drugs. His victims were aged between 18 and 41. He would bring them to a nightspot, drug them and bring them to hotel for sexual actions. He even filmed himself sexually assaulting some of the women on his mobile phone.

The victims would wake up without knowing anything since they were drugged. Azuar Ahamad would deny everything and simply claim that they were drunk and passed out.

Truth came to light when some of the women suspected and reported him to the police. However, he denied using of drugs.

Source: AsiaOne

As reported by The Temasek Times, a senior banker only realized she was raped after police officers called her. Her identity is kept confidential under a court gag order.

We are rather stunned by the number of Singapore girls who obviously have not filtered their dates whom they meet online. It is also stunning that young girls of age 18 would meet up their blind dates at nightspots.

We would like to appeal to nightspots regulars to look out for the ladies even if you are just a stranger.

Fake Gifted Tutor and Tuition Centre

Education in Singapore is very competitive and thus, parents are willing to send their children to tuition centres set up by talented tutors who have been through very good education, especially the gifted programmes. Let's not focus on the results that the tuition centres can produce, but rather, their credibility.

Do the founders of the tuition centres have very outstanding education history and have impressive experience? How about the tutors engaged by the tuition centres?

In http://news.asiaone.com, tutor Mr Kelvin Ong made the headline.

The Sunday Times reported that he had never attended National University of Singapore, and thus was not a double mathematics major graduate there.

The Education Ministry defused his claim that he was a pupil in the Gifted Education Programme, nor a teacher. After that, he pushed the blame to his mother for lying over his self-proclaimed education history, stating that he did not have the records from the past to verify it.

Anglo-Chinese School's (Primary) denied his another claim as a relief teacher over the school from 2002 to 2003 to handle the gifted classes. The long-serving teachers from ACS primary had also revealed that he was never a relief teacher there.

The Sunday Times revealed that Mr Ong had actually graduated from Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) with a diploma in 2000. He worked as a physiotherapist at National University Hospital (NUH) before being asked to leave in 2004 over "integrity" issues. It was the same period of time when he was working at NUH that he had claimed he had been a relief teacher in ACS primary.

The paper also reported that people who knew him said that he was always trying to make money, including through tuition. He had set up Aristocare tuition centre that charged parents up to $500 per student for a 3-hour session. He justified his unworthy high tuition fees with his claims of not only having been through the gifted programme but having taught in the programme for 10 years in ACS primary. Meanwhile, some parents have demanded refunds for the tuition fees that they have paid him.

Mr Ong had told the paper that he had closed down the tuition centre and that he would not be teaching any more.

Ice-cream Scams in the Name of Boys' Town

It seems that scammers have been taking advantage of kind souls to make purchase of items in the name of charity. There is a recent similar ice-cream fundraising scam in the name of CDAC (Chinese Development Assistance Council).

We strongly hope all the kind people in Singapore will not be affected.

Below is an important announcement from Boys' Town.

Dear Benefactors, Friends and Partners of Boys' Town

It has come to our attention recently that there have been cases of youths who claim to be volunteers or boys from Boys' Town who are selling ice-cream in the streets and door-to-door.

We would like to clarify that Boys' Town has not endorsed such fundraising activity and if you have had any encounters with them, please do take down their particulars and inform us either via email at info@boystown.org.sg or call the Community Partnerships department during office hours at 67691618 so that we can inform others and the respective authorities on such activities.

There is currently no fund-raising initiative through the sale of ice-cream by Boys' Town.

Charitable organisations that are licensed to solicit funds in public would be granted a Collector's Certificate of Authority from the National Council of Social Service, or a copy of the police permit. If you are approached by any individual or group claiming to be soliciting funds for a charitable purpose, you can seek verification of the fundraiser's identity and the authenticity of the fundraising project by requesting to examine these documents.

If you are unsure of any fund-raising activity, please do not hesitate to contact us through the above email and phone number or if it is after office hours, please contact this number at 96234731 to check out the validity of the fund-raising activity.

Please do continue to support Boys Town as we seek your support and assistance in our work and mission to serve the boys who have been placed in our care.

We thank you for your support thus far.



Yours gratefully,

Irene Loi
Executive Director
Boys' Town

Source: http://www.boystown.org.sg


Do request for the identity card of the seller when in doubt!

Fund-Raising Ice-cream Scam

Recently, there are door-to-door ice-cream sellers claiming to be selling their ice-cream to raise funds for the CDAC (Chinese Development Assistance Council).

CDAC has confirmed that the ice-cream sellers are not related to them. They have made a media release on Wednesday stating that it had been notified of people who are using its name to solicit public donations.

The scammers have been active in four areas - Jurong, West Coast, Hill View, and Bukit Panjang.

If you happen to meet such salesperson, do ask for his/her identity pass. Inform the police immediately if you suspect it is a scam.

Nude Video Scam - Alexander Soh Zhi Ren

The 22-year-old man, Alexander Soh Zhi Ren, who has worked with his then 16-year-old girlfriend, Yap Siew Ting, for the nude webcam scam, is sentenced to jail for five years and ordered to be given five strokes of the cane for various offences.

He has pleaded guilty to 10 of 23 charges, including theft, forgery and handling of stolen goods.

Yap Siew Ting is given probation for the webcam nude video scam.

Customer Scam on E-Commerce Website

We have received this scam story from a visitor "Bouncer". He is probably a foreigner who owns an e-commerce website. The "customer" would purchase items from him, paying him via PayPal. After receiving the goods, the "customer" would file report that the purchase is unauthorized and thus getting back the money while able to keep the purchased items.

Blog shop owners should take note of this online shopping scam.

Below is the victim:

I have an e-commerece website, when they first contacted me and ask if I take credit cards which is strange because I have all (4) credit cards in a Logo on my front page of my website. When you say yes, they will order from 1500.00 to 4500.00 worth of product all in multiples of what ever product they choose. They are usually pick the very expensive items. They immediately start asking you to ship asap, i wait for tracking number they say. They ask everyday or every other day if you shipped yet. They wait until they know the package is shipped and in customs and then they report to the credit card company it was an unauthorized purchase. What stinks is , the scammer gets the product and if you have a pay-pal shopping cart like I do, pay-pal on this end takes the full amount of the order out of your account until it is settled. You have to go to the details link on pay pal in your account to see if you are eligible for seller protection when someone places an order. If not they take the entire amount out of your pay-pal account which puts you in the negative if you don't keep a lot of money in there. If you have seller protection, they leave the money in I guess and work out the dispute with the credit card company. These orders all have addresses that are shipped to a building on Airport Rd in Singapore, building No. whatever. This is most likely where the freight forwarders are to ship somewhere else. I shipped one order and the dispute ended in my favor but shortly after I received 3 other big orders all going to some building on airport rd in Singapore. They are telling there buddies they found some sucker in the states that will send out the product. I have since stopped all sales to Singapore and if I do get an order, I immediately refund the money right back. I hope this helps save someone from this scam of people ordering product off your website and then claiming unauthorized purchase after you have sent the product. You lose the product and your account gets all screwed up for up to 30 days until they get it worked out.

We would like to highlight that such scammer exists in every country. Even though large number of residents in Singapore are foreigners, the government is still able to reduce crime rate, such that Singapore is safer and more crime-free than most other countries.

Any victim from other country should try to contact the Singapore police force for assistance in any online scam. It would do you good while helping Singaporeans to remove black sheep.

Some Tips on Scams on Mediacorp Channel 8

Tonight's Crimewatch (绳之以法) 2012 episode 4 on Mediacorp channel 8 will reveal some scams and tips to avoid them.

It will include the webcam sex extortion scam.

Remember to catch it!

Updates on Yap Siew Ting Extortion Scam

Yap Siew Ting, 17, had pleaded guilty to extorting $150,000 from a 22-year-old man and attempting to extort $10,000 from another 24-year-old, by threatening to upload nude videos of them over the Internet after conning them into revealing their private parts with the help of her boyfriend - Alexander Soh Zhi Ren, 22.

She was sentenced to 24 months' supervised probation for the extortion scam on Wednesday, 27 Jun, 2012. According to Straits Times, Yap Siew Ting has to perform 130 hours of community service and remain indoors from 10pm to 6am, under the probation order.

City Harvest Founder Kong Hee Arrested for Allegedly Misuing Church Funds

As reported by Yahoo! News:

City Harvest founder Kong Hee was arrested by police on Tuesday morning along with four others from the local mega-church.

The Straits Times reported that Pastor Kong, his deputy Tan Ye Peng and three other key ministry members were arrested at their homes early Tuesday morning and are currently being questioned over the alleged misuse of church funds.

The other four members are John Tan Yee Peng, Lam Leng Ham, Chew Eng Ham and Sharon Tan.
Other allegations after a two-year Commercial Affairs Department probe include suspicion that the four had breached charity laws by falsifying church accounts.

According to Today, the Commissioner of Charities (COC), following an Inquiry into the City Harvest Church (CHC), has also suspended eight members of the church governing board with immediate effect under the Charities Act.

Channel News Asia reported that the misappropriated funds had allegedly been used to finance Kong's wife, pop singer Ho Yeow Sun's career.

It is believed that about S$24 million was allegedly pumped into her lavish lifestyle in Los Angeles, where she is now based.

Yahoo! reported in 2010 that Ho was staying in a S$7.7 million estate in Hollywood Hills with her son, an assistant, a nanny, and her relatives.

The 29,000 sq ft Mediterranean style building consisted of four structures, including accommodation for a butler, nanny, and maid. It also had a swimming pool and two car garage with space for another nine cars.

In Singapore, Kong and Ho also speculated in property, moving from a five room HDB flat in Tampines before moving to a S$1 million unit in Horizon Towers and finally buying an apartment at Central on Devonshire Road worth about S$2.6 million.

Ho had also previously been asked to return for the CAD probe in 2010, and was grilled by police for more than eight hours.

Kong, who has maintained his innocence, tweeted a Bible Psalm around 9 am on Tuesday morning.

The prolific Twitter user, posted a Bible Psalm in Chinese, translated to - "The sun will not smite you by day, nor the moon by night. Jesus will protect you from all harm."

He had spent the previous weekend before his arrest delivering his usual sermons, including one at the Heart of God Church in Paya Lebar.

Members of City Harvest church reacted with a mix of shock and denial.

"I still believe he will come out spotless from all this - he's a man of God and we believe in him." said teacher Alicia Goh, 29, who attends the church regularly with her husband and two young children.

"I hope that the rest of the church and their good work will not be brought down with him. He is the founder of the church, but he can also make mistakes - if he has indeed misused our funds, he needs to own up." said retiree Steven Wong, 67, who added that he was "very disappointed" by the news.

Many of Kong's supporters also took to Twitter to ask for "prayers" for Kong and the senior church ministry members, with one user "Erictan" saying that he was "praying and fasting" for Kong's "protection".

Other tweets were more sarcastic, with one tweeter saying that Kong had been having too great a "harvest" and that his arrest was an indication that "there is a God".

The five are expected to appear in court on Wednesday.

We trust the Singapore court would investigate and give a clear verdict eventually. Scams Singapore would not comment now due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Webcam Scam - Recording and Extorting from Guys

Months ago, the news of the Singapore couple who extorted money from guys over webcam had stunned many people. The scammers conned Singapore guys to show their private parts in webcam, recorded the processes and extorted money from them afterwards.

This is, however, not the end of the scam. While the Singaporean couple are being caught, others, especially foreigners are still out there continuing with their plot.

We are not sure how our local police can deal with scammers who are executing their plans outside Singapore. However, we hope we are able to reduce the number of victims through the blog entry.


The scammer's Facebook profile page




Photos of a sweet and sporty girl found inside her Facebook profile.

Since year 2011, there is one scammer who is known as "Jacky Lee", who has started "her" search for prey through Tagged.com like many other scammers. She would then ask her potential preys to add her in MSN at leejacky79@hotmail.com, Skype at jacky.lee97 and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/leejacky79 (She has set her privacy, such that probably only friends can view her page).

During that time, we had not heard of such scam and thus did not take note of it. She, however, had been acting weird in the conversations she initiated, trying to hint that she was horny.



After the Singapore scam couple were exposed, "Jacky" continued to try her luck. We wanted to give her a "surprise" but she was too experienced to be fooled. Anyway, below is the full transcript of the MSN conversations.


4/9/2011
( 2:05:46 AM ) jacky : hey
( 2:05:47 AM ) jacky : how are you?
( 2:05:49 AM ) jacky : mind intro?
( 2:05:52 AM ) jacky : ;)
( 2:05:53 AM ) Scams-Singapore : hihi
( 2:05:57 AM ) Scams-Singapore : great but tired
( 2:06:01 AM ) jacky : oh
( 2:06:06 AM ) jacky : get some rest
( 2:06:12 AM ) Scams-Singapore : legs tired
( 2:06:15 AM ) jacky : anyway i add you in fb
( 2:06:24 AM ) jacky : found your email same here
( 2:06:28 AM ) Scams-Singapore : haha
( 2:06:29 AM ) Scams-Singapore : okay
( 2:06:30 AM ) jacky : you swimmer?
( 2:06:36 AM ) Scams-Singapore : you can find out more about me in my facebook
( 2:06:44 AM ) jacky : lol
( 2:06:47 AM ) Scams-Singapore : just causal swim
( 2:06:49 AM ) jacky : its been private
( 2:06:52 AM ) jacky : icic
( 2:07:19 AM ) Scams-Singapore : i have accepted you
( 2:07:24 AM ) jacky : thx le
( 2:07:24 AM ) Scams-Singapore : should be able to see full profile
( 2:07:26 AM ) jacky : :)
( 2:07:31 AM ) jacky : hahas
( 2:07:52 AM ) Scams-Singapore : i'm from singapore
( 2:07:53 AM ) Scams-Singapore : and you?
( 2:08:12 AM ) jacky : same
( 2:08:19 AM ) jacky : bukit panjang
( 2:08:35 AM ) jacky : but now currently here at melbourne,AUST
( 2:08:43 AM ) Scams-Singapore : so good !
( 2:08:48 AM ) jacky : study here in ACU
( 2:08:53 AM ) jacky : as a nursing
( 2:08:58 AM ) Scams-Singapore : mmm
( 2:09:02 AM ) jacky : you still study?
( 2:09:04 AM ) Scams-Singapore : why not taking it in singapore?
( 2:09:13 AM ) jacky : parents will
( 2:09:20 AM ) Scams-Singapore : no.. finished my studies
( 2:09:24 AM ) jacky : oh
( 2:09:41 AM ) Scams-Singapore : i took -removed-
( 2:09:42 AM ) jacky : so working?
( 2:10:02 AM ) Scams-Singapore : yea
( 2:10:13 AM ) jacky : wait dear
( 2:10:15 AM ) jacky : brb
( 2:10:17 AM ) Scams-Singapore : okay
( 3:33:40 AM ) jacky : back
( 3:33:42 AM ) jacky : still up?
( 3:33:46 AM ) Scams-Singapore : wow
( 3:33:48 AM ) Scams-Singapore : so long
( 3:33:50 AM ) Scams-Singapore : going to bed soon
( 3:33:54 AM ) Scams-Singapore : where did you go?
( 3:33:55 AM ) jacky : oh
( 3:34:02 AM ) jacky : just do something ard
( 3:34:17 AM ) jacky : anyway you sleepy?
( 3:34:45 AM ) Scams-Singapore : yea.. went to the zoo just now without enough sleep and i'm so exhausted
( 3:35:00 AM ) jacky : oh
( 3:35:08 AM ) jacky : want to feel good?
( 3:35:09 AM ) jacky : lol
( 3:35:13 AM ) Scams-Singapore : feel good?
( 3:35:35 AM ) jacky : lets have some fun for awhile if you dun mind
( 3:35:53 AM ) Scams-Singapore : like what?
( 3:36:58 AM ) jacky : hmm
( 3:37:06 AM ) jacky : idk if your up to it
( 3:37:09 AM ) jacky : but
( 3:37:34 AM ) jacky : you mind have some naughty games?
( 3:37:58 AM ) Scams-Singapore : lol. are you a real person?
( 3:38:49 AM ) jacky : yeah
( 3:38:51 AM ) jacky : why?
( 3:38:52 AM ) jacky : lol
( 3:38:56 AM ) jacky : just asking
( 3:39:08 AM ) jacky : but if you dun like then i dun care
( 3:39:28 AM ) jacky : im not a pure singaporean
( 3:39:45 AM ) jacky : thats why i think im diff from girls you ever known
( 3:40:44 AM ) Scams-Singapore : lol. okay
( 3:40:55 AM ) jacky : so?
( 3:41:14 AM ) jacky : you can go sleep then take a good rest
( 3:41:44 AM ) Scams-Singapore : yea. good night. nice april fool joke. enjoy

8/9/2011
( 1:17:06 AM ) jacky : hi
( 1:17:10 AM ) jacky : how you doin/
( 1:17:13 AM ) Scams-Singapore : hi
( 1:17:14 AM ) Scams-Singapore : fine
( 1:17:33 AM ) jacky : what you do?
( 1:17:38 AM ) jacky : why still up?
( 1:17:50 AM ) Scams-Singapore : work. going to bed soon
( 1:17:55 AM ) jacky : icic
( 1:18:28 AM ) Scams-Singapore : you?
( 1:18:50 AM ) jacky : nth
( 1:19:03 AM ) Scams-Singapore : lol
( 1:19:07 AM ) Scams-Singapore : okay
( 1:19:48 AM ) jacky : just reading some book
( 1:19:54 AM ) Scams-Singapore : about what?
( 1:20:12 AM ) jacky : wait
( 1:20:25 AM ) Scams-Singapore : about wait?
( 1:41:03 AM ) Scams-Singapore : need to wake up before 6. going to bed. night

10/9/2011
( 12:38:45 AM ) jacky : hi
( 12:38:47 AM ) jacky : how are you?
( 12:44:11 AM ) Scams-Singapore : not bad
( 12:44:12 AM ) Scams-Singapore : you?
( 12:44:17 AM ) jacky : same here
( 12:44:20 AM ) jacky : but kinda bored
( 12:44:25 AM ) Scams-Singapore : lol
( 12:44:26 AM ) Scams-Singapore : i see
( 12:46:53 AM ) Scams-Singapore : go play game
( 12:47:18 AM ) jacky : okok
( 12:47:25 AM ) jacky : take your time then
( 12:47:34 AM ) Scams-Singapore : i mean you go play
( 12:47:50 AM ) jacky : lol
( 12:47:52 AM ) jacky : sorry
( 12:47:57 AM ) jacky : eyes kinda dizzy
( 12:47:58 AM ) jacky : haha
( 12:48:04 AM ) Scams-Singapore : then go and sleep
( 12:48:13 AM ) jacky : hahaha
( 12:48:16 AM ) jacky : can't sleep la
( 12:49:20 AM ) Scams-Singapore : why can't?
( 12:49:35 AM ) jacky : dunno
( 12:49:43 AM ) jacky : i feel hot here
( 12:49:54 AM ) Scams-Singapore : on the air-con?
( 12:51:51 AM ) jacky : lol
( 12:51:58 AM ) jacky : not that kind of hot i mean
( 12:52:02 AM ) Scams-Singapore : oh
( 12:52:11 AM ) Scams-Singapore : the dirty type?
( 12:53:30 AM ) jacky : hmm
( 12:53:31 AM ) jacky : yeah
( 12:53:41 AM ) Scams-Singapore : go find your boyfriend la
( 12:54:19 AM ) jacky : i dun have bf
( 12:54:29 AM ) Scams-Singapore : lol
( 12:54:34 AM ) Scams-Singapore : okay
( 12:54:41 AM ) Scams-Singapore : then diy la

15/9/2011
( 12:58:15 AM ) jacky : hi
( 12:58:16 AM ) jacky : how you doin?
( 1:07:14 AM ) Scams-Singapore : okay okay
( 1:07:15 AM ) Scams-Singapore : you?
( 1:07:58 AM ) jacky : same here
( 1:08:02 AM ) jacky : what you doing now?
( 1:08:16 AM ) Scams-Singapore : just finished bathing
( 1:08:17 AM ) Scams-Singapore : you?
( 1:08:22 AM ) jacky : nth
( 1:08:25 AM ) jacky : bored
( 1:08:28 AM ) Scams-Singapore : oo
( 1:08:31 AM ) jacky : also can't sleep
( 1:08:34 AM ) jacky : :(
( 1:08:46 AM ) Scams-Singapore : why can't sleep again?
( 1:08:55 AM ) jacky : insomia
( 1:09:07 AM ) Scams-Singapore : thinking of which guy?
( 1:09:13 AM ) jacky : nah
( 1:09:20 AM ) jacky : thinking about my dad
( 1:09:25 AM ) Scams-Singapore : wow
( 1:09:26 AM ) Scams-Singapore : why
( 1:09:32 AM ) jacky : nvm
( 1:09:48 AM ) jacky : you alone there?
( 1:09:52 AM ) Scams-Singapore : ya
( 1:09:53 AM ) Scams-Singapore : why
( 1:10:01 AM ) jacky : nth just askin
( 1:10:10 AM ) Scams-Singapore : you?
( 1:10:15 AM ) jacky : same
( 1:10:18 AM ) jacky : alone too
( 1:10:22 AM ) jacky : thats why im bored
( 1:10:40 AM ) Scams-Singapore : go find something to do
( 1:10:45 AM ) jacky : hmm
( 1:11:02 AM ) jacky : wanna have some fun with me?
( 1:11:06 AM ) jacky : for a while?
( 1:11:14 AM ) Scams-Singapore : lol
( 1:11:19 AM ) Scams-Singapore : how to have fun?
( 1:11:23 AM ) Scams-Singapore : you are far away
( 1:11:24 AM ) jacky : yeah
( 1:11:28 AM ) jacky : lol
( 1:11:32 AM ) jacky : we can use cam lor
( 1:11:42 AM ) jacky : its ok if you dun want to
( 1:11:49 AM ) Scams-Singapore : lol. what kind of fun?
( 1:11:53 AM ) jacky : i guess also that your not up to what i want
( 1:12:07 AM ) Scams-Singapore : lol. maybe
( 1:12:13 AM ) jacky : maybe what?
( 1:12:21 AM ) Scams-Singapore : maybe not
( 1:12:48 AM ) jacky : yeah
( 1:12:51 AM ) jacky : i guess so
( 1:12:59 AM ) Scams-Singapore : haha
( 1:13:00 AM ) Scams-Singapore : okay
( 1:13:14 AM ) jacky : so nvm
( 1:13:24 AM ) Scams-Singapore : okay
( 1:13:29 AM ) jacky : :)
( 1:13:31 AM ) jacky : bb
( 1:13:34 AM ) jacky : night
( 1:13:45 AM ) Scams-Singapore : bye

11/11/2011
( 1:37:36 AM ) jacky : hi
( 1:37:37 AM ) jacky : how yah doin?
( 1:37:45 AM ) Scams-Singapore : not bad
( 1:37:46 AM ) Scams-Singapore : you?
( 1:38:08 AM ) jacky : same here
( 1:38:11 AM ) jacky : what you do now?
( 1:38:18 AM ) Scams-Singapore : work
( 1:38:19 AM ) Scams-Singapore : you?
( 1:38:42 AM ) jacky : oh
( 1:38:46 AM ) jacky : at work now?
( 1:38:54 AM ) Scams-Singapore : work from home
( 1:39:06 AM ) jacky : huh?
( 1:39:08 AM ) jacky : how come?
( 1:39:26 AM ) jacky : work at home?
( 1:40:23 AM ) Scams-Singapore : no money mah.. so must work hard
( 1:40:24 AM ) Scams-Singapore : lol
( 1:40:26 AM ) Scams-Singapore : you?
( 1:40:30 AM ) Scams-Singapore : doing what?
( 1:40:43 AM ) jacky : study
( 1:40:52 AM ) Scams-Singapore : studying now?
( 1:41:11 AM ) jacky : yes
( 1:41:58 AM ) Scams-Singapore : wow
( 1:41:59 AM ) Scams-Singapore : haha
( 1:42:02 AM ) Scams-Singapore : so hardworking
( 1:42:30 AM ) jacky : yeah
( 1:45:02 AM ) Scams-Singapore : but why message me when you are busy studying?
( 1:45:11 AM ) jacky : ahh
( 1:45:16 AM ) jacky : misunderstood
( 1:45:18 AM ) jacky : lols
( 1:45:25 AM ) jacky : im doing nth now
( 1:45:40 AM ) Scams-Singapore : oh. okay
( 1:45:43 AM ) jacky : its been 3:44am here now
( 1:46:19 AM ) Scams-Singapore : lol
( 1:46:21 AM ) Scams-Singapore : so late
( 1:46:24 AM ) jacky : yeah
( 1:46:29 AM ) jacky : cant sleep that easy
( 1:46:55 AM ) jacky : got insomia
( 1:47:24 AM ) Scams-Singapore : oo
( 1:47:27 AM ) Scams-Singapore : how come?
( 1:47:42 AM ) jacky : been stressed
( 1:48:44 AM ) Scams-Singapore : over what?
( 1:49:21 AM ) jacky : been thinking lot of probs
( 1:49:27 AM ) Scams-Singapore : like what?
( 1:49:30 AM ) jacky : family probs school probs
( 1:49:35 AM ) jacky : etc
( 1:49:37 AM ) jacky : ..
( 1:50:20 AM ) Scams-Singapore : oo
( 1:50:37 AM ) Scams-Singapore : what kind of family problem?
( 1:50:42 AM ) jacky : nvm
( 1:50:49 AM ) jacky : its my personal prob
( 1:52:07 AM ) Scams-Singapore : okay..

24/5/2012
( 2:12:49 AM ) leejacky : hi
( 2:12:51 AM ) leejacky : :)
( 2:21:20 AM ) Scams-Singapore : hi
( 2:21:30 AM ) leejacky : hello
( 2:22:54 AM ) leejacky : u may intro yourself ??
( 2:24:18 AM ) Scams-Singapore : 13/m/chinese/innocent
( 2:24:19 AM ) Scams-Singapore : brb.
( 2:24:38 AM ) leejacky : ok la
( 2:24:39 AM ) leejacky : :)
( 2:24:48 AM ) leejacky : u wait for you
( 2:24:58 AM ) leejacky : are you right now la
( 2:25:00 AM ) leejacky : ?

26/5/2012
( 1:08:07 AM ) leejacky : hi
( 1:11:24 AM ) Scams-Singapore : hi
( 1:11:40 AM ) leejacky : what are you doing now ?
( 1:11:45 AM ) leejacky : are you busy ?
( 1:11:48 AM ) Scams-Singapore : yes
( 1:11:49 AM ) Scams-Singapore : why
( 1:12:04 AM ) leejacky : ahh ok i see
( 1:12:18 AM ) leejacky : im so bored here in my room
( 1:12:19 AM ) leejacky : :(
( 1:12:21 AM ) leejacky : :'(
( 1:12:32 AM ) Scams-Singapore : oh..
( 1:12:33 AM ) Scams-Singapore : lol
( 1:12:49 AM ) leejacky : how is your work ?
( 1:12:50 AM ) Scams-Singapore : where are you from?
( 1:13:07 AM ) leejacky : from singapore
( 1:13:24 AM ) leejacky : sorry for disturbing you la
( 1:13:26 AM ) leejacky : :(
( 1:13:33 AM ) Scams-Singapore : oh
( 1:14:14 AM ) leejacky : im very so la
( 1:14:15 AM ) leejacky : :(
( 1:14:39 AM ) Scams-Singapore : huh
( 1:16:02 AM ) leejacky : what is ur fb ?
( 1:17:08 AM ) Scams-Singapore : facebook.com/removed
( 1:17:53 AM ) leejacky : ok
( 1:18:17 AM ) leejacky : what are you doing now ?
( 1:18:45 AM ) Scams-Singapore : work.
( 1:18:46 AM ) Scams-Singapore : you?
( 1:18:56 AM ) Scams-Singapore : which part of singapore do you stay?
( 1:19:02 AM ) leejacky : only chatting witn you la
( 1:19:39 AM ) leejacky : Bukit Panjang
( 1:19:55 AM ) leejacky : what is your work ???
( 1:20:58 AM ) leejacky : but im here in phillipines
( 1:21:05 AM ) leejacky : for my vacation
( 1:21:06 AM ) leejacky : :)
( 1:21:27 AM ) Scams-Singapore : i do website
( 1:21:28 AM ) Scams-Singapore : oh
( 1:21:33 AM ) Scams-Singapore : when are you coming back?
( 1:21:50 AM ) leejacky : after my vacation
( 1:22:02 AM ) leejacky : im drunk right now :(
( 1:22:22 AM ) leejacky : im alone here in my room
( 1:22:23 AM ) leejacky : :(
( 1:22:32 AM ) Scams-Singapore : when is your vacation ending?
( 1:25:39 AM ) leejacky : after my vacation im back australia for my study
( 1:25:40 AM ) leejacky : :)
( 1:26:05 AM ) Scams-Singapore : wow
( 1:26:19 AM ) Scams-Singapore : last time, what secondary school did you study in?
( 1:27:05 AM ) leejacky : australian catholic university :)
( 1:27:25 AM ) Scams-Singapore : secondary school ??
( 1:27:55 AM ) leejacky : Am I interrupting you
( 1:27:57 AM ) leejacky : ??
( 1:28:14 AM ) leejacky : btw u have a cam ?
( 1:28:37 AM ) Scams-Singapore : so, you don't have a secondary school
( 1:28:41 AM ) Scams-Singapore : is it?
( 1:29:15 AM ) leejacky : yes :)
( 1:29:22 AM ) Scams-Singapore : what is it?
( 1:30:15 AM ) leejacky : :)
( 1:30:23 AM ) leejacky : u have have a cam ?
( 1:30:47 AM ) leejacky : what kind of website do you do ?
( 1:30:55 AM ) Scams-Singapore : do you have a cam?
( 1:30:58 AM ) Scams-Singapore : porn website
( 1:31:07 AM ) leejacky : aw
( 1:31:09 AM ) leejacky : :)
( 1:31:16 AM ) leejacky : thats nice hahaha
( 1:31:20 AM ) leejacky : lols :)
( 1:31:29 AM ) leejacky : yes
( 1:31:36 AM ) Scams-Singapore : do you want to be my model?
( 1:31:41 AM ) leejacky : are you open minded ??
( 1:31:44 AM ) Scams-Singapore : sure
( 1:31:59 AM ) leejacky : i dont know :P
( 1:32:29 AM ) leejacky : u have a cam ?
( 1:32:42 AM ) leejacky : you mind some fun ??
( 1:32:48 AM ) leejacky : :P
( 1:32:57 AM ) Scams-Singapore : what kind of fun?
( 1:33:47 AM ) leejacky : i do some sexy dance for you
( 1:34:10 AM ) leejacky : is it big :P
( 1:34:21 AM ) Scams-Singapore : how sexy?
( 1:35:07 AM ) leejacky : sexy dance
( 1:35:08 AM ) leejacky : :)
( 1:35:28 AM ) leejacky : how long do you have ? :P
( 1:35:59 AM ) Scams-Singapore : how big are yours?
( 1:36:32 AM ) leejacky : hahah lols :)
( 1:37:34 AM ) leejacky : u want to see
( 1:37:35 AM ) leejacky : ??
( 1:37:37 AM ) leejacky : :)
( 1:38:36 AM ) leejacky : just only a fun :)
( 1:38:44 AM ) leejacky : u want ?
( 1:39:15 AM ) leejacky : u cant help me out
( 1:39:16 AM ) leejacky : :)
( 1:39:20 AM ) leejacky : :)
( 1:39:42 AM ) Scams-Singapore : help you?
( 1:39:46 AM ) Scams-Singapore : how big are yours?
( 1:40:39 AM ) leejacky : its big u cant measure :)
( 1:42:10 AM ) leejacky : busy ?
( 1:51:49 AM ) Scams-Singapore : oh sorry i'm back
( 1:51:57 AM ) leejacky : ok
( 1:52:10 AM ) leejacky : what are you doing now
( 1:52:14 AM ) leejacky : are done ?
( 1:53:35 AM ) Scams-Singapore : connecting my cam
( 1:53:42 AM ) leejacky : ahh
( 1:53:43 AM ) leejacky : ok
( 1:53:56 AM ) Scams-Singapore : you?
( 1:54:02 AM ) leejacky : you mind some fun
( 1:54:12 AM ) leejacky : waiting for you
( 1:54:14 AM ) leejacky : :(
( 1:55:06 AM ) leejacky : done with ur doing ?
( 1:55:19 AM ) Scams-Singapore : lol.
( 1:55:39 AM ) leejacky : ?
( 1:55:50 AM ) Scams-Singapore : what are you wearing now?
( 1:55:58 AM ) leejacky : no
( 1:56:02 AM ) leejacky : why ?
( 1:56:05 AM ) leejacky : hahaha
( 1:56:07 AM ) leejacky : :P
( 1:56:14 AM ) Scams-Singapore : curious
( 1:56:23 AM ) leejacky : ok i see
( 1:56:36 AM ) leejacky : you cam is ok now ??
( 1:56:48 AM ) leejacky : your cam is ok
( 1:56:49 AM ) leejacky : ??
( 1:56:59 AM ) Scams-Singapore : not sure. need to restart first. brb
( 1:57:48 AM ) leejacky : ok i wait for you
( 1:57:49 AM ) leejacky : :)
( 2:03:59 AM ) Scams-Singapore : thanks
( 2:05:00 AM ) Scams-Singapore : what are you doing?
( 2:05:13 AM ) leejacky : no
( 2:05:17 AM ) Scams-Singapore : ?
( 2:05:43 AM ) leejacky : u heva tagged ?
( 2:05:47 AM ) leejacky : have
( 2:05:52 AM ) Scams-Singapore : no
( 2:05:56 AM ) leejacky : ok
( 2:05:57 AM ) leejacky : :)
( 2:06:05 AM ) leejacky : your cam is ok
( 2:06:06 AM ) leejacky : ??
( 2:06:12 AM ) Scams-Singapore : i'm not sure. you want to try?
( 2:06:28 AM ) leejacky : wait ok
( 2:06:29 AM ) leejacky : :)
( 2:06:49 AM ) Scams-Singapore : okay
( 2:07:01 AM ) leejacky : thanks :P
( 2:10:34 AM ) leejacky : anyway you alone there ?
( 2:10:37 AM ) Scams-Singapore : yes
( 2:10:39 AM ) Scams-Singapore : you?
( 2:10:44 AM ) leejacky : same here
( 2:10:49 AM ) leejacky : bored lo
( 2:11:11 AM ) leejacky : so you ready on cam ?
( 2:11:17 AM ) Scams-Singapore : yes
( 2:11:18 AM ) Scams-Singapore : you?
( 2:11:26 AM ) leejacky : invite me
( 2:11:35 AM ) : Starting a video call with leejacky ... End call (alt+q)
( 2:11:57 AM ) : leejacky accepted your video call. End call (alt+q).
( 2:12:09 AM ) leejacky : you dont have cam
( 2:12:11 AM ) leejacky : :(
( 2:12:22 AM ) Scams-Singapore : i have just connected
( 2:12:31 AM ) leejacky : ??
( 2:12:32 AM ) Scams-Singapore : you don't have?
( 2:12:40 AM ) leejacky : i have one
( 2:12:50 AM ) Scams-Singapore : it says you don't have
( 2:13:16 AM ) leejacky : its you la .. dont have one
( 2:13:22 AM ) : leejacky wants to start a video call with you. Accept (alt+c) Decline (alt+d)
( 2:13:25 AM ) Scams-Singapore : i was connecting it just now
( 2:13:28 AM ) : You've accepted the invitation to start a video call. End call (alt+q).
( 2:14:01 AM ) Scams-Singapore : it says the same thing. can't see you
( 2:14:20 AM ) leejacky : well im just covering my cam
( 2:14:25 AM ) leejacky : see
( 2:14:31 AM ) leejacky : its you dont have one
( 2:14:43 AM ) Scams-Singapore : i have
( 2:14:59 AM ) leejacky : why it say's mark X
( 2:15:28 AM ) Scams-Singapore : i don't know. i haven't used it for long.
( 2:15:33 AM ) Scams-Singapore : if you don't believe, then it's okay
( 2:15:45 AM ) leejacky : nvm forget it

7/6/2012
( 3:41:08 AM ) leejacky : hi
( 3:41:12 AM ) leejacky : :)
( 3:41:20 AM ) Scams-Singapore : hi
( 3:41:30 AM ) leejacky : what you doin now ?
( 3:41:40 AM ) Scams-Singapore : nothing much
( 3:41:52 AM ) leejacky : ahh ok
( 3:42:09 AM ) leejacky : what your name in fb again ??
( 3:42:34 AM ) leejacky : how are you now ??
( 3:42:35 AM ) leejacky : :)
( 3:44:10 AM ) leejacky : busy ??

8/6/2012
( 4:01:44 AM ) leejacky : hi



Screenshot (printscreen) by Jacky Lee

Being a veteran in the scam plot, Jacky did a screenshot to prove that we did not have a webcam - we had disconnected it on purpose. However, the screenshot she sent over had proven that she was a scammer. At the bottom of the image near the centre, she had dragged an opened software to hide it. The software was "CamStudio", which was used to record video.

By observing the image, "she" was a big gamer who had quite a number of game icons on her desktop. "She" listened to Korean songs and even bothered to change the icon of the folder. There was also another folder by the name of "jerry", which could be "her" real name or another victim.

She was eventually blocked in MSN. Do take note that we are doing this blog on voluntarily basis and thus may not have the time to go deeper into stories like reporters or police.





Through research in the Internet, we have found other people talking about "her". There seem to be quite a number of victims who have fallen for her trick. Some have unfortunately paid "her".

We are not sure if the photos (from her Facebook) and videos (screenshot above) are her in real person or she has downloaded them online. We highly suspect that she is a Filipino who pretends to be a Singaporean schooling in Australia.

Anyway, we hope people will take note of this scammer and not fall into "her" trick. With the information given, reporters can try their luck to "play" with this scammer.

Update (03 October 2012): "She" has changed her Facebook name to "Ac Lee (Wants Hug)" and set her permanent Facebook URL to https://www.facebook.com/iloveyoulee79 .

Email Scam - WordPress URL - googles.html and others

Recently, there is a mass outbreak of automatic spamming from Singaporean owned email accounts. Such email spamming is common but quite uncommon for so many accounts to be infested.

The spam emails contain no subject and the bodies of the message contain only a single url with no comment added.

"Less is more" and this is probably the tactic of the hacker (scammer) to involve fewer text to not arouse suspicious from receiver of the scam email. This is probably the reason why some victims have clicked the url indicated.

We cannot confirm if your email account will be hacked immediately once you open the URL or is it a phishing page that asks you to key in your password to login to your email account.

Below are some of the scam URLs we have gathered for the past few days:

PLEASE DO NOT OPEN ANY OF THEM.

http://www.blindenvy.com/wp-content/themes/fspring_widgets/googles.html?mcg=qsd.gio&ytr=wjog.sus&eec=zmsw

http://www.theh2solution.com/wordpress/wp-content/themes/theh2solution2ndgeneration/googles.html?cab=ef.hsm&rt=te.jheg&shc=lzgx

http://www.puluu.com/wp-content/themes/inove/googles.html?awe=vh.psml&ony=wjog.we&mhh=rksi

http://savingtoberich.com/wp-content/themes/headway-2013-1742/goodbody.html

http://robertcrew.net/wp-content/themes/twentyeleven/yahoolinksus.html

http://www.astro.com.py/wp-content/themes/astro/body.html

http://bijouxmarilou.com/wp-content/themes/Sabuy/googles.html?sdm=gwhj.sxfs&wm=er.wrhg&oeo=bmbq

http://tasteofkiwi.co.nz/wp-content/themes/k2/googles.html?awe=vbb.jieg&shn=te.jyg&ghb=puln

http://dallidata.da.funpic.de/actressearly/Richard_Morris97/

http://www.derinlikreklam.com/healthylife.html

We have noticed some similarities in the URLs, which may be linked to WordPress, which also includes a HTML file "googles.html" - of course, not for all. Therefore, we cannot confirm if all of them are the work of the same scammer. All, except for the last 2 URLs, are hosted by the webhost dreamhost.com.

Our analyzed results are (excluding the last 2 URLs):
1. The scammer may own all the domain names and has created the paths to mislead victims
2. The scammer may have hacked the webhost and uploaded the files
3. The scammer may have created a dummy plugin for WordPress blog owners to install

Whatever is the case, do make sure you let your friend know if he/she has sent you an email with similar URL. In fact, you should not open just any URL in email without checking with the sender. Victims should change their email accounts' password immediately and possibly, do a full system anti-virus scan.

Phone Line Guarantor Scam

One Singaporean girl has trusted her friend and become the guarantor to sign up a SingTel phone line. S, now owing SingTel $3000+, is facing charges from SingTel over the $3050 bill used by her friend J.

Dear friends. I will be going to court in 3 days because of a mistake by a person whom I thought was my most trusted friend, J. She asked me to be her guarantor 3 years ago with Singtel in order for her to sign a plan. I only agreed because i trusted her and she promised to pay her bills. All was rainbows and butterflies until she stopped paying for her phone bills that accumulated to $3000+. I don't know what or how she managed to choke up that amount! Singtel had to turn to me because I was the guarantor (duh). I tried to contact her countless times the past 3 years, but she seemed to disappear every time I or my friends tried to contact her. She cut all ties with me and didn't return any of my calls. I had no means to pay that huge amount of money as my family is not well to do. In addition, I am still studying full-time and I have to pay my own bills as well as my family's household expenses. Moreover, I did not use that line. All students will understand how hard it is to study and work and at the same time, support the family.

I was foolish and am embarrassed to say I befriended and trusted this girl too easily.

Today, singtel finally appeared at my doorstep, warning me of the dire consequences which I will face in 3 days if I do not pay up the $3050. I'm really at my wits end, thus I'm turning to social media for help.

I have learnt my lesson not to trust people too easily, especially with money, even if they are my best friends. I have made that mistake once and I will never make it again.

Please help me keep a look out for J and if you do see her, please ask her to contact me or Singtel to clear the debt. I will be forever grateful for your kindness and understanding.

This is a lesson for everyone to not trust your friend too easily.

Updates (18 June 2012):

Photo of scammer and URL are removed as requested by commenter who stated that the scammer had already re-appeared from the lowest level of hell to contact the victim.

Updates (20 June 2012):

Regarding the number of Anonymous posters here, it would of course be much appreciated if they were to use some aliases.

All new comments will take some time to appear because they will be moderated - just to avoid bots from spamming the blog, which happens frequently. We appreciate all the commenters so far for the language used.

Scams Singapore is not connected to any of them.

Updates (21 June 2012):
We have received an email from J to update us - she will be paying the amount owed by installment. All names are removed since the matter seems to be resolved, unless S wants to further pursue it.

3 PRC Scammers in Woodlands

From ChannelNewsAsia:

SINGAPORE : Police have issued a crime alert, warning residents in Woodlands of a scam targeting senior citizens.

An elderly woman was cheated of cash and jewellery by three suspects who are believed to be Chinese nationals.

The suspects, two women and a man, offered to perform prayers for the victim to help her ward off a mishap that could lead to her death.

In exchange, she would hand over her cash and jewellery.

Police have described the male suspect as 1.7 metres tall, medium built and in his 40s.

He was last seen wearing a short-sleeved shirt, black pants and leather shoes.

The two women suspects are in their late 20s, about 1.5 metres tall and slim-built with long hair.

They were last seen wearing white T-shirts and three-quarter pants.

Police urged senior citizens to remain vigilant to prevent themselves from falling prey to fraudsters.

They should not fall for anything that sounds too good to be true, especially if they are asked to surrender their money or valuables.

They should walk away if they suspect anything and inform the police.

The public can help their elderly family members by updating them on such crimes.

We would like to highlight that the scam may can conducted at any place in Singapore, which means that non-Woodlands residents, whether is Singaporean or foreigners, should take note of this.

The public should help each other by observing the neighbourhood and watch out for "aunties" or "uncles" who are approached by suspicious strangers. This is easier to be said than done but we are sure that if everyone does our part, we will be able to stop some of these scam cases and bring the scammers to justice.

By the way, elderly are not "stupid" to be conned. Many do have health issues and thus, they are just vulnerable to scams at certain time of their lives, which will happen to even young people. We just have to do our part to educate everyone.

Online Cheap Universal Studios Tickets Scam

Recently, there are some scammers who claim to sell Universal Studios Singapore tickets at a cheaper price via the Internet.

Some victims have bought the heavily discounted tickets online in big bulks and realised they have been cheated when they did not received the theme park's tickets after transferring money over to unknown individuals.

As reported by TodayOnline, a 41-year-old woman saw an offer for seven tickets at S$380 and paid S$500 to buy 10 tickets. She did not receive the tickets as well.

The public should purchase their Universal Studios Singapore's tickets at its official website and not from individuals to avoid being conned.

If anyone has encountered similar scam, do call the police and drop us an email to highlight the details.

Reporters, do note that there is no victim who has contacted us at this point of time. Once we have any lead for you, we will update and remove this paragraph.

Free $50 McVoucher Hoax

Following the previous McVoucher scam, a new one has surfaced today.

Please do not help them to mass invite your friends!

For your information, McDonald's Singapore Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/mcdsg. If there is any free voucher, they will use their own page to advertise!



The fake McVoucher Facebook event page

A Warm Welcome to you..

Click here : http://bit.ly/LNEB6A

Due to high amount of entries, We have changed our event's link. Please follow the above link and complete the given steps in that event.

The fake McVoucher Facebook page


The following comments from Facebook users summarize everything:

Elaine Ong
what sort of coupons are those. Ive done the necessary and the coupons which I suppose are the so called 'free vouchers worth 50 - 200 bucks' are the B1G1 Free Smoothie and Mcdonalds BOGO Mcafe Coupon???!!! i feel damn cheated.

Benjamin Smith
I've done all the steps for the free $50 McVoucher but all that comes up when i click on the link is "Sorry, there are no surveys available for your country"....WTF?? Another McDonalds spam exercise...

Tanya Wallis
SPAM with VIRUS!!!!!! AVOID and give yourself an uppercut for believing another bullshit scam!

Tanya Wallis
SPAM with VIRUS!!!!!! AVOID and give yourself an uppercut for believing another bullshit scam!

Wai Yan
Fake hor ... account created less than 4 hr ago .. :)
Not specified in official Mc Page :)

Angela Teo
this is a hoax..come on!

Harun Juma'at
The one create this is a mother fucker..!!! spam..!!

Harrison Jomartz
i invited all my friends but once i clicked the link, went to the page and did the survey the txt would not go threw and therefor the content could not be unlocked. help?

Damon Garry Belsham
this is a total scam you @#@$%$#@

Arthur Alexander Kendall
So how do I collect my voucher ?

Ben Hull
Whoever is actually joining the event and inviting their friends, is a COMPLETE AND UTTER TOTAL FUCKWIT - C'mon people! How STUPID are you all ??? the event was created by a 'McDonalds' page with 70 likes ?? are you people fucking for real ? SO FUCKING DUMB.

Ben Hull
Whoever is actually joining the event and inviting their friends, is a COMPLETE AND UTTER TOTAL FUCKWIT - C'mon people! How STUPID are you all ??? the event was created by a 'McDonalds' page with 70 likes ?? are you people fucking for real ? SO FUCKING DUMB.

Kenny Burnzeverythingtoash
F*cktard! After i click to invite my friends, got referred to a pay to play lucky draw link, fuck you.

John Chang
WTF is wrong wif mcd? sending out scams?! now it just blew my notifications..... cos so many people keep on reposting it...

Singing Competition Scams in Singapore

It is rather difficult to do business in Singapore due to the competitiveness. You have to at least have a good business plan and some capital on hand. If you are running a cafe, you may need good ambiance and a chef who can make wonderful food and drinks, in order to make wonders.

As tough as we know, some cafes, such as music cafes, are struggling hard with their business. Due to location and over-priced food and beverages that are of sub-standard, a music cafe may have to resort to unethical methods to bring in business. One thing they may do is to organise a singing competition.

The preliminary rounds of the singing competition may be held during days the music cafe has the lowest number of customers. The competitors are likely to bring along their friends as supporters, such that the music cafe can earn money from the audience. This sounds pretty decent except for some business owners who decide to be dishonest.

One disgusting action that a dishonest singing competition organiser may do is to make false announcements. They may tell the participants and their supporters that the next round is the final round of the singing competition, so that the participants will bring along more supporters for the "final round". However, they will simply eliminate a couple of competitors during the next round, which is supposed to be the final round, and re-announce the final "final round" of the competition. The reason why the music cafe will do this is because they may be demanding each audience to spend at least ten dollars each at the cafe; having a fake "final" will definitely bring them more income.

Another disgusting thing the music cafe may do is to increase the cover charge of each audience during the final round of the singing competition to catch everyone off-guarded. Even though it may have clearly indicated a minimal of $10 purchase of food items on the printed menu for each audience, the staffs will falsely insist that the actual amount is $15 and they have been giving discounts to everyone during the past few rounds of competition. Obviously, every supporter who has made effort to go down will not walk off because of the additional of $5 each.

After every participant has finished singing, the three judges may announce that they would need 15 minutes to gather their opinions to make the final decision for the standing of the competitors. Somehow, they may drag it for a few "15 minutes". This means that everyone has to stay inside the cafe longer and more people would order drinks to fill their thirst.

The prize may include both cash and gifts. What an unethical music cafe may falsely announce the value of the prize items by bragging about the price, such as claiming that they are giving away a Fujifilm camera that costs $200 when you can actually buy it at Giant hypermart at the price of $75. If the price difference is low, there may be a chance that the organiser is being conned by some shops; however, if they claim that the price of the camera is nearly two times more, we know it is obviously a scam to cheat the participants.

The last thing the music cafe can do is to announce their "own people" as the winner. As long as the winner's singing is not awful, it does not matter how many other participants can sing better. There is also no problem even if the winner looks hilarious or disgusting, or smokes illegally within the cafe's compound, because the focus is on the "singing".

We hope singing-lovers would take note of such singing competition scam. If you are looking to win the top prizes, you should forget about it. For newbies who have just started taking part in singing competitions to gain experience, you should avoid taking part in such singing competition because it may lower down your confidence and faith instead.

- Courtesy of someone whose friend has just finished his singing competition at Bugis the night before

Another Internet Romance Scam

Below is another romance scam alert by one of our visitors:

Okay, another romance con artist going by the name of Desmond Cliff, attracts Singaporean females. He claims he is Alaskan, been living in California, and outstationed in Sabah, Malaysia. Works for Chase company. Wife died of childbirth, both parents had died, and only brother left. He is in Badoo.com, facebook and also yahoo messenger. From his accent and spelling and words use, one can tell a little later, that he is not American. Americans don't use 'severally', nor say 'back' as 'buk'.. only UKs and Nigerians do that. Be careful. His stories will look so real when it comes to asking you to help him financially. He would tell you how he got help from others first, and then you are his last resort. How he needed just that much left. I was a victim. Glad it wasn't so much but I am still threatening him to repay me back. Learned my lesson with all this wealth of information on the net. Also, everybody in US will be listed in PeopleSearch, so check out first. Be careful out there.

Sorry reporters, this victim did not leave any contact behind as well.

Assistance for CNA Documentary on Scams

Third Floor Pictures is working on a crime documentary for Channel News Asia - examining cons and scams. If anyone has fallen for these frauds, we'd like to work with them and share their story. We can assure absolute anonymity. They can e-mail me at khai at thirdfloorpictures dot com with their name and contact number or call me in the office at 64387169.

Above is an appeal from a very friendly guy, Khai, from the company "Third Floor Pictures".

Your kind assistance will be greatly appreciated. If you were a victim, we are sure that you do not wish more people to fall for the same fraud.

Chain Mail Forwarding Scams

Chain mail has begun as early as the use of email has existed. They begun with scams threatening you that if you do not forward to a number of friends, something bad will happen to you. Then, some very nasty people invented scams like the following:

Dear : All,

Hello, My name is Krista Marie and I have a new born baby named Natalie.

She means the world to me, and just recently, the doctors have discovered that my little Natalie has "Brain Cancer."

Unfortunatly my husband and I don't have the money to pay for the bill.

But my husband and I have worked out a deal with AOL and they have agreed to give us 5 cents to each person that received this e-mail.

So please, forward this to everyone you know, and help out my little Natalie and I.

Thank you.

Your Sincere :
Krista Marie

* This is NOT a joke e-mail, this is regarding to save a new Life. Please dtake this message seriously. Thank you!

We do not know if Krista Marie and Natalie are real people. However, the whatever "deal" with AOL is definitely a scam because there is no way AOL can know if anyone has received the forwarded email, at least not by sending the image as an attachment. The number of viewers may be tracked if the image is being hosted by AOL and is embedded as HTML inside the email.

We strongly despise scammers who create such prank since it will greatly kill the morale of kind souls in the world.

Fake Distributor Online Scam

The emerging of internet has helped many businessmen to reach target audience easier. Selling products online means there is no need for a physical store, which will help to ease the business cost since rental is usually the biggest component.

However, there is an issue of reliability at stake. Many scammers have emerged to harvest in the large market with fake or imitation products, which are usually of lousier quality than the actual manufacturers'.

It is often difficult to trace the sellers when the online buyers face issues with the products.

In our opinion, it is worth the risk to try out non-consumable and non facial products; on the other hand, we should always exercise extra care in identifying the sellers' credibility. For products that you will put into your mouth or apply on your skin, you probably have to research more.

There is a compaint from a beauty products distributor that someone has been using her name to sell the products, which are supposed to be sold only through her.

"注意：很多卖家利用我们的名誉说是我们的代理和我们拿货，但是她们根本不是我们的代理却说是跟我们拿货。我们并不是他们的代理商。大家请小心！"

We do not know if these products really work. Our primary concern is that if you were to get them from unauthorized distributors, there is a high chance that they are counterfeit goods, which may harm your health. Secondly, if anything happens, you may not be able to pursue the matter if you get the products from an unknown online fake distributor.

It is therefore better for you to get any product from the appropriate distributor instead of getting them at discounted price from unknown distributors or people who claim to be representing the distributor.

A decent product that is allowed to be sold online should at least have a decent company website. Do check with them for more information when you are in doubt.

Beggar Scams - PRC Old Lady

Translated from Chinese (pardon us if there is any mistake):

"Daughter is suffering from Leukemia"

"Female beggar makes a hundred dollar per hour"

"Came to Singapore from China and is being accused of gaining sympathy"

A few weeks ago, there was this news of a PRC lady who was begging on the street. We are not sure if she is genuine about her sick daughter even though many people think that it is weird for her to be able to afford the air ticket to travel from China.

Like what we have mentioned in one of our entries about the begging scam, passers-by should help the poor in the long run by contacting the town council, member of parliament or MCYS to help them. If you give a person a fish, he can live for a few days, but if you teach him how to fish, he can live for many years.

Call From Number +65333458 Scam

We have just received a call from the number +65333458.

"+65" is the country code for Singapore, which means if someone uses a phone line to call you in Singapore, "+65" will be displayed at the front.

The person who called had an Indian accent, who spoke very fast and was recommending us to get a free package or gift from "Bank of China".

As he continued to shoot nonsense, we took a look at the phone number and realised it was very weird. If we were to break down the number into country code and phone number, "+65" and "333458", the phone number was different from the normal 8-digit Singapore number - it was just 6 digits.

We knew something was wrong and regretted even picking up the call. As we said "Sorry, I'm not interested", the fellow ignored us and continued to recommend his product until slamming his phone.

Lesson learnt for the day is that phone number that appears on the caller ID can be faked like email - we have heard about it before but the "+65" in front is really tricky. We hope nobody is tempted by whatever free package or gift.

We are not sure what kind of scam they are trying their luck on, however, companies that fake number are obviously up to no good.