Beware of Online Selling Scam from Foreign Countries

Recently, there is a growing number of advertisements from suspicious users posted in our local forums for sales of photography gears. The prices that they have offered are quite amazing and the items are new (the forums' sections are actually meant to be for sales of refurnished items). Their member accounts are also new.

When we tried to clarify with one of them, the person told us we had to make payment online while the actual item is located in foreign country.

As a matter of fact, parallel import goods may be cheaper than local ones, partly because of non-local warranty or lower tax; however, if the item cost less than 50% of local price, you should really beware of the catch.

As our local police force may not be able to deal with criminals in every foreign country, we advise everyone not to try luck in all the cheap offers. If it happens that you send the payment via online transfer and the seller does not mail the item over as promised, it may be beyond anyone's help.

Will you purchase electronic items via online from Kazakhstan or Pakistan?

If you have purchased items from such sellers and realised you have been conned, do post your encounter in the comment section below. Meanwhile do spread about this and encourage your friends many things are too good to be real.

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.

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.

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.

Online Friendship Scam - Sexual Weblink

Following the exposing of Miyo Minako scammer, we have also discovered another similar "horny" girl by the name of "Chi Chi Yamaguchi".

Chi Chi Yamaguchi started off in Tagged.com as well and sent message to invite her new friends to her Facebook account. She was less aggressive than Miyo Minako though as she did not spam sexual Facebook statuses daily to advertise for her "free service". Another difference between both of them is that there is a higher chance that Chi Chi Yamaguchi is using her real photos and videos in her Facebook profile - at least she is not posting a girl's photo in Singapore school's uniform.

Her Tagged.com profile http://www.tagged.com/profile.html?uid=5463761189 is longer available and unfortunately, we did not take any screenshot of it before that. It is likely that she can or has already set up a new Tagged account though. Tagged.com is probably still keeping the profile in their database but they will not entertain anyone who would like to have a quick peep at it.

We had some interactions with her but we were rather tired of that since we already knew she was up to no good in the first place. She was simply trying to get guys to go to her "web link" to see "free show".

Here are the printscreens from Facebook Messages:

And in case you cannot see the texts in the pictures properly, you can read the conversation below:

March 2

Chi Chi Yamaguchi
Hello

Scams-Singapore
hi

Chi Chi Yamaguchi
sO what r u doing now my new friend?

Scams-Singapore
nothing much. you?

Chi Chi Yamaguchi
here just lying on my bed
done watching pornsite
:0

Scams-Singapore
i see
okay

Chi Chi Yamaguchi
?
sO
are u alone there?

Scams-Singapore
yes

Chi Chi Yamaguchi
Mmmm good
single?

Scams-Singapore
yes
why?
anyway, i'm going off. see you.

Chi Chi Yamaguchi
ok
takecare



March 2 (later...)

Chi Chi Yamaguchi
Hello ^^ How's ur day?

Scams-Singapore
good. you?

Chi Chi Yamaguchi
a liilttle bit tired for now .. after all cleaningmy closet,bed,etc..... im aLmost DONE NOW,,;;
and wer r u ryt now

Scams-Singapore
home



March 17

Chi Chi Yamaguchi
Hello there dear, [:)] are u busy

Scams-Singapore
hi. yes. what's up?

Chi Chi Yamaguchi
what u doing ?

Scams-Singapore
doing some work
you?

Chi Chi Yamaguchi
just listening music and chatting w. my new friends, in my weblink [:)]

Scams-Singapore
i see

Chi Chi Yamaguchi
wanna join me

Scams-Singapore
for?

Chi Chi Yamaguchi
some fun?

Scams-Singapore
??

Chi Chi Yamaguchi
Hello there [:)] not sleeping yet

Scams-Singapore
no. you?

Chi Chi Yamaguchi
so what u doing rite now

Scams-Singapore
work
you?

Chi Chi Yamaguchi
working?where

Scams-Singapore
home

Chi Chi Yamaguchi
what u doing like? what

Scams-Singapore
cheating money

Chi Chi Yamaguchi
?


You can no longer message Chi Chi Yamaguchi. Learn more.

We did not expect her to block us in the end. She was probably wondering why a guy did not initial any conversation with her at all and when she started the chats, the guy stayed "cold" and was not allured by her declaration of "being horny". And of course "cheating money" was actually describing her when we were intending to confront her.

Why would she want to people to view her web link?
The person has to register an account on the website that requires his credit card details, which he will be promised that no amount will be deducted. She will either be able to access the credit card details directly or be given a referral commission. In neither way, she is not genuine in making friends with you.

As usual, our advice is that there is no free lunch in this world. There is a lower percentage for hot girls to give you any free show on the internet. If you are going for any free bite, be prepared to be bitten by them on your wallet. Even if you are better looking than Tom Cruise or Jay Chou, there is a high chance for you to be cheated over the net. Obviously, if a girl wants to have "fun" with you, she would have done it over MSN or Skype video call.

If you are going for genuine online friendship, do not expect the girl to start arousing your lust at the beginning of the conversation; open-minded girls do exist but most of them would restrain themselves.

If you are single, go and get a real girlfriend instead!

Scam Alert: Facebook Fake Profiles

There are some very obvious misuse of photos by a few Facebook users. In other words, these are Facebook fake profiles.

1. Rachel Tan
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003252601897
Photos belong to Yuhong and friend

2. Val See
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001716408537
Photos belong to Priscilla

3. Xiao Xue
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003291364968
Photos belong to Yinghui

The owners of the photos, all Singaporeans, were informed about the scammers but it seems like Facebook is too well-pampered by the extra fake count of users.

Scam Alert: Tagged Fake Profiles

Below are some Tagged profiles that are using non-Singaporeans' photos but they all claim that they are staying in Singapore.

http://www.tagged.com/profile.html?uid=5453614060

http://www.tagged.com/profile.html?uid=5412891925

http://www.tagged.com/profile.html?uid=5410374143

We are not sure of their motives but they do not seem to be very active in Tagged anymore.

Do take note of them if you have them added as friends in Tagged.com or Hi5.com.

Hoax Kidnap News after Four Attempted Abduction Reported

Recently, there are a number of attempted kidnapping news circulating in Facebook, stating that young children are nearly grabbed and taken (abducted) by PRC Chinese.

Allison Goon:

I was in Ang mo kio hub fiesta today and they having a magic show in b1. When I finish feeding him the food he was following me to throwing the rubbish suddenly I turn back I can't find him

Nope when i turn back I saw a lady holding my son hand and my son follow her

I shouted my son name and asking her y u hold my son hand ? The lady saying opps I holding a wrong child .. I oso saw her with a man 2 of them just pretending nothing and walk away

I did asking my son y u follow the lady when u don't know her at all, he reply me saying: jeh jeh saying u follow me and I will bring u home

The first news was contributed by a Facebook user by the name of "Allison Goon". The actual date should be around 18 March 2012. She was watching a magic show at Ang Mo Kio Hub with her son who followed behind her while she went to the litter bin. She turned back to see a lady holding her son's hand before she approached the lady. The lady claimed that she had held the wrong child in a heavy PRC accent. Then, the lady walked off with another man. The son told his mum that the lady had asked him to follow her and thus, it was not a case of "holding wrong hand". The manager of Ang Mo Kio Hub has confirmed the incident and the mother has lodge a police report.

On 23 March 2012, a grandmother reported to the police that a woman had tried to lure her 10-year-old grandson into a van outside his school in Simei Street 5.

Hwai Kee:
My son was almost pushed away in a stroller at north point. We were looking into the baby spa when I turn around, saw a china man holding 1handle of my son stroller,luckily my maid was hold the other.he was probably waiting for my maid to be careless and let go,when I turned ard and stare at him,he walked away suspiciously. Was too angry and forgot to snap a picture of him!

On Tuesday 27 March 2012, another Facebook user said a Chinese man tried to abduct her young son at Northpoint mall in Yishun.

Iryna Tang:
Another child abduction alert!! Happened to my sil juz ytd. She pickin my 2nieces fr cc. Her hand holdin 2yo n another hold umbrella. Told her 5yo to walk in front of her so she can watch. Then suddenly a woman came out to grab 5yo han. My sil shouted at her n she ran off. At bukit panjang area...

Then, a Facebook user said a Chinese woman had tried to abduct her five-year-old niece near a Bukit Panjang community centre.

Police are still investigating the cases while they advise public not to spread rumours, which may create unnecessary fears.

Source: Temasek Times and Asiaone


Regardless of the truthfulness of the reports, parents should always ensure that they keep a good watch over their children. They should also educate their children not to follow strangers.

The outburst of the kidnapping news may in turn be helpful in building better relationship among the family members as parents will take extra care of their children.

Singapore is a small country surrounded by sea and two causeways linked to Malaysia. Even though our security may not be the best in the world, no one can deny that it is reasonably efficient and better than our neighbouring countries - less Mas Selamat's case. With the size, geographical location and good security, any kidnapper should really think thrice before trying it over here.




Taking the opportunity of the widespread of news regarding the attempted abduction cases, someone has posted in Facebook regarding a "true" kidnap case at Tampines Street 22. As there is no police report being made regarding any lost child by anyone, the police has identified the rumour as a hoax. We would like to say "good luck" to the person who has started the fake rumour, which had caused an alarm to the public.

Online Scams - Branded Bags

Accordingly to CNA website, police had arrested a 22-year-old woman on 21 March 2012 who is believed to be involved in at least two cases of online cheating.

The suspect had placed an online advertisement on the website "Deluxemall.com" for the sale of branded bags, using the username "Bagjunkie".

The first victim made a police report on 03 March 2012 that she had been cheated regarding a branded bag. She had "bought" it from the suspect and transferred a sum of S$1,400 to a bank account provided. The suspect became evasive and the victim did not receive the bag. Preliminary investigations revealed that another victim was scammed for the purchase of a S$1,450 branded bag as well.

The lady would attend court on 23 March 2012. If convicted, she could be jailed for up to 10 years, and fined.

Anyone who has news to the final verdict, please update us.


Online Scams have become more common. The number of scams will continue to increase as more people begin to make internet part of their lives, including online shopping.

One tip that we can provide for online shoppers who like to shop on similar websites is to trust only shops/profiles that have more kudos or positive reviews/comments. Of course, not every shopping website would provide shoppers with the features to rate or comment. For newer shops, there are always higher risk.

Blog Shop Scam - Shop-4more.blogspot.com

We have just received a complaint about a blogshop from Jolene.

Bought a ring online for $3.50 and after i transferred the money to the seller, she said she will mail it out.
About a week later, there was no news and so i texted her.
She then replied saying, 'my suppplier run away already, how much you paid me?' followed by, 'I can't refund you your money'.
I got angry, naturally, and told her i will report her to the police if she doesn't refund me.
She then replied saying, 'I only do meet up for refund . And u have to sign a letter to prove u won't make a police report against us , we will need ur IC photcopied as to prove.'
Her replies were sent only yesterday, 16th march at 8:24pm.
Not only hasn't she refunded me, she has also locked her blog and avoided my calls.
This is an obvious case of fraud.

Her blogshop: shop-4more.blogspot.com
Her mobile Number: 93610***

We note that:
1. The seller has collected the money and the seller has the responsibility to resolve it in a way that satisfies the buyer (in a reasonable way).
2. If anything has happened to the supplier, the seller has the obligation to contact the buyer and not let the buyer "chase after" her.
3. The seller does not even seem to know how much her buyer has paid her, which is ridiculous.
4. The seller has no right to make the buyer meet up for refund, unless, the seller is willing to pay for the transportation fee and time lost.
5. The seller has no right to demand for IC photocopied from the buyer.
6. The seller has no right to make the buyer sign a letter to prove that no police report will be made.
7. The seller is using threats.
8. The seller has locked up her blog instead of broadcasting an entry to clarify the problem to account to all buyers and visitors.
9. The seller has tried to avoid the buyer who has handed over the money.

We acknowledge that the blog shop owner behaves like a scammer in the way she deals with this issue.

We would encourage all victims to report to the police about this blog shop scam. As long as the scammer holds or once held a Singapore number, we are quite confident that our Singapore police force is able to locate her.

Fighting Against Facebook Scammer - Kingston Romeo

Impersonating scam has become so common that everyone should take extra precaution when making friends online. It is difficult to determine if an online friend is using his/her real photos. We should therefore remain calm at all times and not let the "good-looking" photos overrule our minds.

Usually, fake female profiles are created for various reasons. This article will, instead, expose a male "user" of Facebook.

From the Facebook name Kingston Romeo (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001983734458) and the way he comments, we can almost be sure that he is a native Chinese Singaporean and therefore, the name "Kingston Romeo" is a fake name.

He is stupid to use a quite popular local guy's photo instead of foreigner's one. The photo even has a copyright watermark at the bottom, linking to the owner's personal homepage.

The above photo was screenshot after he changed his profile picture.

Kingston Romeo has been posting sexual comments on girls' profiles. He has done worse thing such as posting the nonsense on underage girl's profile. We will not post the girls' URLs here even though they seem to be quite open and not blocking perverts.

This Facebook scammer was probably down on luck that he was exposed by another fake female account's owner on 4th February 2012. She (Yes, we have reasons to believe it is either a female or shemale) happened to be in the owner's friend list and informed him that his photo was stolen.

The victim reported and blocked Kingston Romeo and created a Facebook event to invite friends to report him as well.

On 6th February 2012, the scammer messaged another girl who happened to be the victim's friend as well.

Kingston Romeo:
hihi sexy :)

Friend2:
is the dp u?

Kingston Romeo:
why

Friend2:
just asking. curious

Kingston Romeo:
sure
i am

Friend2:
so u are the one in the dp?

Kingston Romeo:
yup

Friend2 managed to get the scammer's email address - lawrencex789@gmail.com - and shortly, the scammer somehow realised he had been exposed and changed his profile photo. If the email address truly belongs to him, he is the same scammer in Tagged who had used the victim's photo as well.

He messaged another girl, but this time, he admitted he was a fraudster. He stopped replying her after that.

We have no idea how many girls he had tried to hook up during the period when he had used the victim's photo.

On 10th February, Facebook's staff finally replied through email:

Subject: Follow-up about your recent report to Facebook

Hi,

Thanks for your recent report of a potential violation on Facebook. After reviewing your report, we were not able to confirm that the specific profile you reported violates Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

Please only file a report if a profile:
- Pretends to be someone else (Ex: yourself, a friend or a celebrity)
- Doesn't represent a real person (Ex: pet accounts, fictional characters or a person who doesn't exist)

If you still believe the profile violates our policies, use this form and provide us with a government issued ID for re-review: http://www.facebook.com/report/appeal.php?report_fbid=***********

Learn more about our community standards: https://www.facebook.com/communitystandards

Thanks,
The Facebook Team

Give us feedback to let us know how we are doing:
http://www.facebook.com/survey/take.php?survey_id=**************

The victim used the link provided to make an "appeal" with evidence but the Facebook staffs had somehow decided to fail their users; there was also no reply from them thereafter. The scammer Kingston Romeo's profile was still around more than a month after it was reported by many Facebook users of the victim.

SingTel / SingNet Phishing Scam

SingNet users have been receiving emails from "SingNet", requesting for the users' password within five working days. Failing to comply with it will cause their accounts to be terminated.

SingTel has issued notices to warn its customers about it and not to divulge their personal information and passwords to the sender. SingNet customers can report any case of internet abuse at http://www.singnet.com.sg/help/security/othersIAReport.asp.

There are, in fact, a few ways to prevent yourself from being scammed.

1. By logical thinking
   There is no need for companies to get your password, as they can easily amend any detail inside your account since they have direct access to the database. It is also not cost-efficient for big companies to engage staffs to request for your password personally. Reliable websites usually encrypt your password before storing it into their databases, and therefore, their webmasters or IT support teams will not be able to retrieve your password; however, they can easily reset your password if necessary.
   
   
2. Checking the sender
   It is easy for anyone to disguise the real mail server's address. If you feel weird about the email, do look at the full email headers for all the details.
   
   
3. Mouse over the hyperlink (do not click it!)
   When your mouse points over the hyperlink, the status bar in your web browser will display the actual URL it is pointing to. The hyperlink may show http://www.singtel.com/login but the actual link may be pointing to http://singtel.scamyouhahahaha.com/login; this is just normal HTML coding. In this case, do note that scamyouhahahaha.com is the actual website and singtel is just a sub directory of scamyouhahahaha.com. The website that you are directed to is likely to appear similar to the original website.

Phishing is an old tactic for scammer to steal your login particulars. It is usually targeting websites such as Paypal, which has less security than your internet banking. If you are using any free online email, you can go through your spam or bulk mail folder and there should be quite a number of such phishing emails.

Online Dating Scams - Appeal by "tagged convictim"

Below is an appeal from a victim of an online scam known as "tagged convictim". Although she did not indicate, we have reason to believe that she has met the scammer through the social networking website - Tagged.com.

If you are a victim of similar case, do report to the police immediately.

If the scammer you have encountered is similar to the guy as described by the victim, do leave a comment at the bottom of this blog entry.

I met a guy a few months ago and he claimed he love me and won my heart within days. In fact, he proposed right after our first meeting and was doing everything a girl dream for. He drove around in luxurious sport cars and claimed he has many businesses. (I guess his story would be different for every case). It wasnt money that made me fell in love with him but the charisma and attentiveness he possess. Whatever it is, for my case, he claimed he bought a house for us and even showed me evidences, etc. Days later he asked for a loan due to cash flow problems. I felt I was the cause of his problem and loan him a huge sum of money. He then disappeared and said he's too ashamed to face anyone. His identity is faked and contact numbers are not registered under his name. He has been doing this for a few years and I believe there are many victims out there. He has been caught recently and now on bail. I am looking for more girls to stand up to seek justice.

Description of him: 33/Chinese/Singaporean, about 176cm, fat with short hair (with long gold fringe) and the most distinctive feature is his two broken front teeth. He is always in tshirt and bermudas and mostly driving a black Nissan.

Please drop me a message if you think you are one of the victims. Contacts will be confidential. May justice prevail.

Online Social Networking Website Scams

Social networking websites refer to websites such as Facebook and MySpace, which allows friends to link up together via the internet.

Many couples have started dating after knowing each other through such websites. Social networking websites are mediums that allow shy people to approach and make friends with others.

Recently, through the main stream media, there are more reports of scammers from foreign countries who target Singaporean ladies. They make friends with the ladies through the internet and their patience allows the ladies to believe in them after months of online interaction.

The usual scammers will try to con the victims to transfer money to them or their counterparts directly. Such tactic has already been ongoing for many years.

The latest trick of the scammers is to plan to drop by Singapore to visit the victims. They will pretend to be detained by the immigrant officers for under-declare the amount of money they have brought along. Then the "immigrant officers" will call the ladies to ask them to bail the scammers out by doing bank transfer of money.

The Singapore police force has clearly reminded everyone that the authorities in Singapore do not accept any bank transfer of money for bail or fine.

Everyone should be aware of such scam. Similar scams may also evolve any time as well. Do take care of your family and friends, and educate them on online scam.

Do not let love overrule your brain. It is not easy to establish cross-border relationship and most people will not be serious about it.

Meet the Scammer in Tagged.com

You have a MEET ME REQUEST.

There, a hot girl picture waiting for you.

"Hihi guy want to doggie with me sms me or call +60xxxxxxxxx i open my hp 24hr everday lor..."

Yes, you are looking at the profile of someone with many hot photos.


Are you so lucky that a hot girl is interested in you?

She's horny and she needs a man now.


WAKE UP.


Most hot girls will not be free to go online.

Most hot girls will be crowded with guys and need not advertise for sex online.


This scam profile is either a sabotage or owned by an escort company in Malaysia.

Online Scam for Money - Tagged.com

One of the latest scams in Tagged.com is quite obvious and direct.

Fake accounts are created to ask for money.

"Anyone can transfer me money now? As a friend without any conditions. Haha :p"

One account alone is enough to arouse suspicious, let alone two with the same posting.

Tagged is a social networking website full of scammers.

Is this Email a Scam?

It has been very common to receive weird and interesting emails from your friends these days.

Hackers have many ways to hack into users' emails accounts and mass send scam emails to email addresses in their contact list.

Below is an example of a freshly generated very interesting email:

Hello, How are you? i do hope that you receive this email in good health. I am presently in England London to be with my ill Cousin, he's suffering from a critical uterine fibroid and must undergo a hysterectomy surgery to save his life . I am deeply sorry for not writing or calling you before leaving, the news of his illness arrived to me as an emergency and that he needs family support to keep him going, I hope you understand my plight and pardon me.

I want to transfer him back home to have the surgery implemented there because hysterectomy surgery is very expensive here, Am wondering if you can be of any assistance to me, I need about ($2,500) to make the necessary arrangement; I traveled with little money due to the short time I had to prepare for this trip and never expected things to be the way it is right now. I'll surely pay you back once I get back home, I need to get him home ASAP because he is going through a lot of pain at the moment and the doctor have advised that it necessary that the tumor is operated soon to avoid anything from going wrong. I'll reimburse you at my return.

Is this email a scam?

Obviously, yes, this is a very common online scam tactic.

If your friend is desperate for money, he will be very direct in his email and not waste time giving fanciful greetings. As much as he tries to be polite, he should have greeted you by your name. This email shows that the sender does not even know who you are.

Do not forget about the technology has advanced so fast that there is MSN, Skype, Yahoo Messenger and even social networking sites such as Facebook. If I were in his situation, I would try these media, where I can talk to friends who are online at the point of time, instead of sending email, which the response is likely to be slower.

Do not neglect the usual typing tone of your friend. In Singapore, many people uses Singlish LAH. Do you think your friend has suddenly become proficient in his English language? Many people R nt used to type in proper English animore, dun u tink so?