Spreading of False Information to Create Public Panic

Although social media has helped people from all over the world to share news instantly and counter false news from mainstream media of countries that are being controlled by their autocratic rulers, there are also attempts of users using it to create public panic.

Accordingly to Yahoo!SG Newsroom, someone has tried to spread rumours about food from Thailand.

We hope the culprit will be taken to court soon.

HOAX ALERT
The AVA has confirmed with the Thai embassy that the following message is untrue:

Emergency notification:
Try not to eat canned food especially those canned fruits manufactured from thailand . There were 200 over HIV carriers instructed by their leader to contaminate the products of the canned food factory by their blood.
The information was confirmed by the government this morning. In order not to let the people get infected after eating, many types of canned food had been removed from the shelves of the supermarkets.such as longan, lychee, rambutan and mango pudding.
Pls send to people you care. Prevention is better than cure! Pls don't buy canned food from thailand.

Please refrain from spreading it further.

SPCA Dog Adoption Hoax

Someone has spread a false news that SPCA is going to put thousands of dogs to sleep. It results that SPCA's phone lines have been flooded.



From SPCA's Facebook page:

Dear All

We have been informed that there has been a SMS circulating in cyber space that the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) will be receiving or have received, a thousand dogs from one of Mutts & Mittens’ tenants and putting them to sleep.

As a result of the hoax message, our telephone lines at our headquarters have been ringing off the hook, putting a halt to our Animal Support Officers answering emergency calls, to the detriment of animals that need our attention the most.

The SPCA categorically denies having received any of these animals.

We will take legal action against those who perpetuate these malicious text messages.

Thank you.

Conmen Who Offered To Perform Prayer Committing Theft

From Singapore Police Force Facebook:

Crime Alert - Conmen Who Offered To Perform Prayer Committing Theft

Beware of strangers approaching your home to offer prayers as a ploy to commit theft.

Police have received reports of culprits who approached residents in their flats, holding a framed picture of Buddha and a container for donations. The culprits would either request to enter the flat or enter without invitation. One of the culprits would distract the victim by saying prayers, including giving 4D numbers, while the other culprits would search the unit for cash and jewellery. While perpetrators may vary their tactics in their attempts to deceive victims, their aim is to gain entry into units and distract the victim while their accomplices search the unit for valuables.

Descriptions of the culprits are as follows:
• Three male subjects believed to be Indian;
• Two of them in their thirties/forties and one of them in his fifties ; and
• Spoke to victims in Tamil and Malay.

Residents should adopt the following crime prevention measures:

• Do not allow strangers into your residence;
• Keep your front metal gate locked when interacting with strangers outside your residence;
• Refrain from keeping large sums of cash and valuables in your residence and should there be a need to do so, a safe should be used to safekeep these items; and
• Keep a lookout for any suspicious person(s) loitering outside your or your neighbours’ residence.

If you have any information on the crime or wish to report suspicious person(s) loitering in your estate, please call the Police hotline at 1800-255 0000 or dial ‘999’ for urgent Police assistance. View the following video for similar cases reported previously

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

Online Friendship Scam - Weblink Sign-up

More scammers are using social networking site to scam or solicit customers. After exposing two profiles (Chi Chi Yamaguchi and Natalia Miyo Minako) who are taking advantage of the newage media to pretend making friends with online users, we have come across another one by the name of Nathalie Lee.

"Nathalie Lee" is hot from the oven! We mean "she" is a new scammer who has appeared since late April 2012.

Their common practice is to create accounts in Tagged.com (recently merged with Hi5.com), which allows ease of making new friends, before gathering their new friends to their Facebook accounts where they do the mass spamming of their "weblinks".

We first interacted with Nathalie Lee in her Tagged.com account at http://www.tagged.com/profile.html?uid=5966885377. She appears to be a Thai and there are many photos of her taken in Singapore.

hello there can i add you in FB yahoo or msn to easy to chat?

or you can add me there.''heres my email lee_nathalie@ymail.com see you there

and have good day <3

Next, she started sending a message to invite us to add her in Facebook, Yahoo Messenger and MSN. Our experience tells us that majority of Thais would use MSN rather than Yahoo Messenger and her Yahoo email has aroused our suspicious.

24/4/2012 4:46:30 AM scams-singapore: hi
24/4/2012 4:46:42 AM nathalie: hello
24/4/2012 4:46:56 AM scams-singapore: how are you?
24/4/2012 4:47:26 AM nathalie: im fine
24/4/2012 4:47:42 AM scams-singapore: where are you from?
24/4/2012 4:47:48 AM nathalie: thai
24/4/2012 4:47:52 AM scams-singapore: mmm
24/4/2012 4:47:55 AM scams-singapore: in singapore now?
24/4/2012 4:48:33 AM nathalie: yes for vacation
24/4/2012 4:48:41 AM nathalie: hmmm do you have FB?
24/4/2012 4:49:05 AM scams-singapore: yes
24/4/2012 4:50:47 AM scams-singapore: http://facebook.com/scams-singapore
24/4/2012 4:50:51 AM scams-singapore: who do you come over with?
24/4/2012 4:55:28 AM nathalie: done
24/4/2012 4:58:17 AM scams-singapore: okay
24/4/2012 4:58:23 AM scams-singapore: when are you leaving singapore?

We tried to prompt her for more information but she stopped replying after adding us in Facebook.

Nevertheless, we managed to find our answer in her Facebook profile at https://www.facebook.com/nathaliedee101. We could see that her Facebook account started at around 23 April 2012.

Visiting her photo album, we could see that she was quite hardworking to upload quite a number of photos. There was an album "walking SG alone :)" that had caught our attention as it was pretty weird for a foreign girl to walk around Singapore alone and yet able to take so many photos of herself. How many girls would carry a tripod stand overseas to take self photos?

Haisss So hot in here Y_Y) i cant sLeep... tsk .
anyone ONLINE im online on my WEBLINK.. you can see me there now...
if interested just message me ....

Edrian Abdulla: Thank you for inviting me there. your so hot baby ^^
April 24 at 3:03am

Nathalie Lee: lolz its ok ed :)
April 24 at 3:03am

Edrian Abdulla: i thought your a cam model sorry,, i was wrong please forgive me darling. yah your rite its all free to see you there and it safe
April 24 at 3:04am

Nathalie Lee: its ok for me FOR THOSE who dont believe in me its ok,, im not forcing them to see me and know much better
April 24 at 3:05am

Edrian Abdulla: just dont mind it ok im here for you darling i will comfort you forever please dont share your weblink to other only me
April 24 at 3:06am

Nathalie Lee: wahahahahaha.... i dont think so,, can we chat on my weblink now ed im to lazy to reply u here
April 24 at 3:07am

Edrian Abdulla: ok darling .
April 24 at 3:07am

On her wall, we could find a status that sounded very similar to what Chi Chi Yamaguchi and Natalia Miyo Minako had been posting. Nathalie Lee tried to allure visitors by hinting that she was hot and she mentioned about her "weblink". A "guy" by the name of Edrian Abdulla commented on the status and mentioned that the weblink was safe. It was pretty funny that he also apologised for mistaking Edrian Abdulla as a cam model because she was indeed a cam model and that was not a "mistake". The mistake should be him apologising in order to create the impression that Nathalie Lee was a real person and not a fake or cam model.

We explored Edrian Abdulla's Facebook profile. His first update was at April 24 at 2:58am, just a few minutes before commenting on Nathalie Lee's status. We believed his Facebook account was just created and it was just a dumby account for the sake of promoting Nathalie Lee.

We explored Nathalie Lee's information page on her Facebook profile and saw the weblink at cam4free05.jimdo.com.

I'm originally 22. Lily is the name and writing is my game. I have an intense passion for writing.I belt out to rocking songs at the top of my lungs. I don't know what I would do without my family & friends. I have a fascination for vampires that usually drives me insane. I read books that can take my imagination on a roller coaster ride.

I love interesting people and unique stuff. I adore everything wild and free.I proudly wear my tattoos.I take photos like my life depends on it. Do not judge me and I in turn will not judge you. I will not lower myself to the status of a hypocrite of that you can be assured. Some consider me deadly when I'm armed with my camera. I loathe people that apply their personalities like toothpaste.

This time round, we picked up our courage to visit the weblink.

www.jimdo.com is a website that provides free webhost services with limited features compared to their premium accounts. The scammer with the username "cam4free05" is simply using the free service.

The profile name was "Lily Han", which was different from Nathalie Lee.

There were links to other websites such as Adult Friendfinder, OnCam4U and Streamate. For all we know, Adult Friendfinder is a friends-making website that allows free sign-up. However, you may have to pay in order to upgrade to their premium member, otherwise, you may not be able to communicate with the female members, which is redundant.

Using Adult Friendfinder, the scammer will earn through "affiliation", which means that he/she will make money from the website's company if you were to sign up. The bonus would be large if you were to upgrade your account. For female member sign-up, the scammer would make higher commission.

Create a FREE Account Now!

Signing up is absolutely free, you will NOT be charged for your membership. We will only verify that your credit card is valid. You will NEVER be charged, unless you are entering any clearly marked paid area of the site.

The page also mentioned about verifying of credit card, which is definitely not safe to do so.


To conclude, we are not able to identify if Nathalie Lee is using her real photos. However, we are 100% sure that she is not there to make friends with you or provide any free webcam show service. If you are genuine in making friends online, do skip such profile.

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!

Fake Employment Scam Targeting Foreigners

As reported by MediaCorp Channel 8 news, there is a stupid scammer who offered to help foreigners to get jobs in Singapore via the Internet.

He got the victims down to a restaurant and asked them for a sum of $1000 each so that he could help their overseas relatives to get S-Passes to work in Singapore. The reason for placing the deposit was to make sure the interested job applicants would not go back on their words.

Why do we label the scammer as "stupid"?

The waitresses recognised the scammer as an ex-staff of the restaurant and thus his identity has been exposed to allow police to summon him over for investigation soon if he has not left Singapore.

We are sure that similar scam method would eventually evolve. Do take note and be careful.

Internet Love Scams - Victims Please Contact Us

As reported by various presses in Singapore, a 32-year-old Nigerian was arrested by the Malaysian police in Kuala Lumpur (KL) for series of internet love scams. He was extradited to Singapore on 11 April 2012.

The scammer would befriend female victims through online dating and social networking websites. He would then try to start fake love relationships with the ladies. He would pretend to visit Singapore and claim to be detained at the Checkpoint, after which, he would request the victims to remit money to certain bank accounts so that he could be released.

If you are a victim of such scam or have a friend who has fallen prey to such scammer, do contact us with your contact details. We will update the reporters who are working on internet love scams news so that they can contact you to find out more in order to educate the public. Your particulars will be kept confidential.

Your kind assistance will be very appreciated by everyone.

Free Zoo Tickets Scam - Phone Scam

Recently, there are cases of people being rang up regarding free Singapore Zoological Gardens tickets. The caller has claimed that the owner of the phone number has won free tickets to the Singapore Zoo but they have to reveal their identification (IC) numbers and other details in order to get the tickets. Since the scammer may have taken the phone number from the phone directory, the scammer may also know victim's name, which make the scam look more convincing.

The Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS), which runs the Singapore Zoo has announced that the free tickets distribution is a hoax.

This could be either a prank to make the victims to go down all the way to the Zoo to collect their "free" tickets or simply a scam to steal their IC numbers.

We are not sure what can the scammer do with the name, IC and phone numbers of the victims. It may be useful in cracking SingPass since the login requires the user's IC number, together with a password, and the user may have used his/her phone number as the password. Similar to some Internet Banking, IC number is the login. The scammer may also collect the IC number before lying low temporary and strike the victim off-guarded - there are new scam methods emerging everyday and do expect the unexpected.

If this scam is purely a prank, the scammer has probably done the Singapore Zoo a big favour for the free marketing. McDonald's place advertisements every now and then to create an impression on the public and the Singapore Zoo will definitely need it as well and they get it for free this time. Victims may also lead their family members down to collect the "free" tickets and they will eventually buy the tickets since they are already there. Many families in Singapore are busy with work and will rarely find time to get together. We hereby represent Singapore Zoo and the affected victims to thank the scammer.

Nevertheless, we would like to urge the public not to be easily taken in by such phone scam. Do not trust a caller completely. If you have won a prize from a big company, they will mail you a letter instead. And also, a decent company does not even need you to verify yourself since it is not a guess-and-win phone game. Please feel odd when the caller starts asking you for sensitive information. Big companies will also not use private number to call you.

We would encourage the public not to take up any random street survey, which the surveyor may lead you to provide your details.

Phone Kidnapping Scam

Someone has requested The Online Citizen to pass on this scam alert to the public. We are not able to confirm the news.

From TheOnlineCitizen:

A citizen allowed us to share this information with the public

< My mum got a call 9:30 this morn fr no 0092357658. A man claimed he had jus kidnapped her daughter(me). Then follows a lady crying on the phone in mandarin "妈妈 妈妈 快救我 快救我 出事了 出事了＂the man then continue to say he had just killed someone and is on the run. He needs 20k to flee. He ask for my mum's location n if she's alone in the office. Later when he heard voices of her colleagues, he got angry and said "you lied that you r alone, now I am going to kill ur daughter. Come collect her body in 2 mins" >

The mum who received the call on last friday made a report on the night itself to the Singapore police. Do be advised on such scams and warn elderly parents who would need to be alert to such occurrences. Callers are from overseas and will get victims to do money transfer via western union which makes it difficult for police to track.

This piece of news arrives during this period of time when the police is still investigating the attempted kidnap reports but there is definitely no link between them.

It has been a known fact that such phone kidnapping scam has long existed. Even the recently ended drama show on channel 8 "Rescue 995" starred by Yvvone Lim, Fang Zhan Fa, Tay Ping Hui and Ou Xuan has a scene that Yvvone Lim's brother (in the show) tried to scam their grandma together with his friends.

This is a kind of confidence trick. The scammer would claim that his team has kidnapped the victim's child or grandchild. As the victim loses her calm, the "kidnapper" would make her "son" or "grandson" to cry for help. It is not easy to verify the voice over phone, especially when the source of screaming is a distance away from the scammer's phone. Moreover, when the victim is in a shock, there is a higher tendency that she would fall for the hoax.

People who are sharp enough would have tried to call the "hostage" to check. However, there are cases that the victims' relatives cannot be reached, they take in the scammers' words and hand over the "ransom".

It seems that the scammers are doing random calling to pick up their victims. We have heard from a targeted person staying in HDB flat that after she slammed the phone years back, the scammer did not bother to call her back. Her neighbour was, in fact, targeted within the same day as well.

Since the use of mobile phone is common, it is definitely easy for anyone to call her relative to check the status to confirm that the caller is a scammer. Everyone should remind the elderly at home about such kidnap hoax so that they will not fall for the trick.

New ideas would emerge everyday and the scammer may put in more "dressing" to the scam. Everyone should always stay vigilant.

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.