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.

Unusual Internet Love Scam

Recently, an internet love scam has created a stir in Singapore.

Yap Siew Ting, 17, and her boyfriend, Alexander Soh Zhi Ren, 21, are being charged over certain crimes. They have managed to persuade victims to appear naked in front of webcam and even masturbate for the girl while they secretly recorded/filmed the process. Eventually, they started extorting money from the victims, threatening them that the videos would be circulated online if they refused to abide to the terms. More than S$100,000 was extorted from the victims.

This is one of the most unusual online scams ever exposed in Singapore. How many people would expect such thing to happen to male victims? Moreover, extortion is always deemed as a major crime in Singapore and thus, most people are quite unlikely to expect it to happen.

This also reflects badly on our society for a 17-year-old girl to showcase her body in the hope of earning trust of her victims. Her boyfriend who is supposed to safeguard her from other guys is making use of her body for the unlawful gain.

Nonetheless, this is a wake-up call for all males not only in Singapore but all over the world.

If you have frequented social networking websites often, you may actually get to see very sexual remarks and requests from guys on girls' profiles. These people are easier to be targeted since they are more open. However, scammmers may prefer potential victims who are less experienced.


We have analysed and pointed out some issues, which guys should take note of.

1. Look into the mirror. Are you so attractive that a girl is dying so badly to see more of you?

2. Hot girls are surrounded by guys, especially when social networking websites are so common; hence, what makes you think the "chiobu" has time to entertain you?

3. Girls in Singapore are generally not as bold as other countries' and do you really think you are this lucky to meet one here?

4. How long have you talked to the girl to make her so fascinated or obsessed over you?

5. Technology is good enough that there are many free screen-capturing software for video-capturing. Besides that, mobile phones with video camera feature is even more common.


Guys really need to reflect on their conducts over the internet. However, girls should also take note of this incident as well.

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.

Fake Foreign Student ID Scam

A 47-year-old female suspect was arrested for selling fake student identification cards.

Police had received information about her printing shop at Bencoolen Street that was reportedly selling fake student cards. On the next day, police officers raided the place and arrested her (the shop owner), retrieving various foreign student cards' templates that were believed to have been forged using the shop's computer. Printing-related items, including a computer, a cutter, some plastic lamination cards and nine counterfeit student identification cards were seized.

The suspect seemed to be selling her services, including printing and sales of the counterfeit student cards, between the price of S$25 and S$65.

Investigations against the suspect are ongoing.

As mentioned by MediaCorp channel 8 news, the buyers are using the student identification cards to purchase cigarettes.

We assume the buyers would have stated their age much older in the student cards and thus we can expect the buyers to use the fake foreign student identification cards to catch R21 movies, enter clubs and pubs, and even to take loans. The wrong usage of the cards may lead to other complications.

We believe buying and owning counterfeit foreign student identification cards are both illegal. Therefore, scammers who are currently in possession of them should think thrice before using them.

Agreement / Contract Scam with Hidden Clauses

All of us have to be honest that very few people would read terms and conditions other than those in a job, loan or business (B2B) contract. Sometimes we do skimp through, but at a very fast pace, which is as good as not looking at it at all.

Even when we are signing the contract for a new employment, the HR manager of the company would also summarise the contract for us. When we are signing any contract regarding real estate purchase or rental, the housing agents would summarize all clauses to us. When we are signing up for any mobile phone plan, the sales person would state that early termination would be subjected to penalties.

How about terms and conditions for entering a local school?

Generally, human beings are lazy. We also tend to let our guards down when dealing with Singapore schools and their associates - we trust them fully. Singaporeans, including us, have been making too much assumptions.

There is also another factor for causing the negligence - Singaporeans love "face". If you are going to stare at any "not-so-important" contract for long and try not to leave out any single word, you may eventually feel the pressure of others thinking that you are "kiasi" (afraid to die).


We refer to Yahoo!SG News on NTU Alumni Club’s ‘shady’ recruitment tactics anger students.

To summarise, NTU Alumni Club's (NTUAC) has a convocation package before graduation for NTU students to sign up. Each package at the price of $198 includes the graduation gown, a plaque and a solo studio shoot, which is reasonably cheap on the surface. Moreover, it comes with free membership in the NTUAC, which allows members to use its facilities and enjoy other perks. However, there is a clause hidden deep in the terms and conditions fine print that states that the student has to pay two years' worth of membership fees.

Many students who have signed up for the package are shocked when the $240 bill arrive around nine months later. Those who wished to terminate their membership before the end of two years would be subjected to a hefty penalty fee of $800.

Some of the most popular comments:

Myfoot:
A scam in disguise!

Singapore Handicap Man:
this is ah long style kill you all from behind. he did the same thing to all poor singaporean too.

Lum:
1 Student $240 , 1000 student = $240,000 , NTUAC = HUAT AH,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Laughing to the Bank

Tan:
What's the NTU president doing ?

Aphroboy:
I guess in the future nobody will want to buy the package anymore. Serve ntuac right.

Finnior:
FYI, I was caught in this too and I graduated in 2009. After paying for 2 years, I was asked to pay for the registration fee, bla bla bla which added up to be $1000++ before I can terminate it. They claimed that it was in the clause when we signed the agreement.
gOod luck!

Gem:
To me, its considered a scam, but its done "lawfully" yet utterly shallow. Its such a grey area. laws should be made for all terms and conditions with regards to money matters to be specified and made clear in only specific part of the terms and conditions of all the rest of the terms and conditions.

Cnn:
in singapore, you must always read the small letter at the bottom of the page more than the captial letters.

Hunt Seng:
Bold the fine print, make it bigger for people to see. When I sell things, I will tell people about the flaws of my product, if they accept it then they buy but if they don't accept it, they don;t buy. Please be honest to your customer. When your customer buy something, you want them to be happy with what they buy.

Alfretz:
I truly believe that transparency is the key issue here.

Avatar:
Students should just boycott NTU and stop giving donations every year. Where and who are the donations going to?

Alh:
its a bad long term strategy

Practicaltalk:
an NTU graduate is still a 'child'. even adults can fall prey to many 'fine prints' trap. just be more careful during work and take this as a lesson...anyway, fortunately it is not an 'expensive lesson' ....

Alvin:
absolutely despicable and disgusting.and to come from a SG Uni, thats so shameful

Singaporean88:
The onus and responsibility for anything one signs lies with the consumer, and from a legal perspective NTUAC has done no wrong.............JUST BECAUSE IT'S LEGAL DOES NOT MAKE IT RIGHT.

LOL Everyone:
Hahaha, I thought they are smart. The club is even smarter. Make $$$ just a stroke of the pen

Sgkeng:
That's NTU's last lesson taught to all graduating students. In order to earn your degree, you must learn the lesson of "read the fine print"; "good deals should be scrutinized" and "there's no free lunch".

There is also a thread at Hardwarezone forum titled NTU Alumni club stopping low to make money regarding it.

Only after this news breaks out, we are aware that NTU and its alumni club are not associated, or rather, not run by the same management. Many NTU students would probably have the same misconception as us; therefore, they do not suspect anything wrong with the contract.

By law, NTUAC has done nothing wrong as the clauses are stated inside the agreement signed by the "victims". However, many people feel that NTUAC should be more transparent about this very important clause. Obviously, when victims sign up for the package, they are in for the cheap offer. The salesperson who has sold the package should have highlighted about the additional membership fee.

What if you have bought a house for your family to live in, but only to realise months later the agreement has stated that you can only move in twenty years later? What if you are new to Singapore and you buy a car, and only to realise that you have to pay COE when the salesperson should have advised you earlier?

CASE has long ago advised drinks stalls in Singapore to put up the prices of the drinks properly. This is an indication that Singapore government is expecting transparency in businesses.

Some people do state that $240 for two years of membership is considered cheap. However, the students seem to be not interested in using the facilities and little do they have time to enjoy the luxury lifestyle after graduating. Pace in Singapore is fast and fresh graduates have to start fighting for a foot in the competitive working society soon.

This incident has cast a very bad image to Singapore.

What we can learnt from this incident is that everyone should read through all terms and conditions before signing on the document - never trust any organisation no matter how established they are.

Sim Lim Square Scam - IT Products

Sim Lim Square is an IT heaven for most people in Singapore, which sells cheap IT products. Unlike Funnan Centre, shops at Sim Lim Square may even give you discounts on the spot.

However, there are quite a number of scam complaints about shops in Sim Lim Square. Although we believe most of the shops are running honest business, we cannot rule out that there are black sheep among them.

Below is a complaint about a shop we have received today. The email is unedited except for the unit number of the shop.

Hello there,

I bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 plus at Sim Lim Square. I knew that the shops there can have very differing prices, so I went around to find one with the lowest price. I found it at #02-77. I made sure I was careful before I made the decision to buy, because I knew that there has been many scam cases that happened there, so I asked if the price they quoted includes everything, warranty, all accessories in the package and tax. Well everything was ok at first, but after i paid for it, the salesperson brought the phone to the counter at the back to do setups. He then told me that i needed to buy a memory card to increase the speed of the processor. I knew the phone came with 16GB of internal memory, but he said no, the programming and all will be under the external memory. After i bought the memory card and the guy did whatever programming that he claimed to do, he told me the total for the setups and programming will be 300 SGD (I can't rmb the exact amt that he quoted) on top of the 640 SGD that i have already paid for the phone itself. I was really angry cause he didn't tell me that he was going to do all those programming and that I'll have to pay some more. He also claimed that I wouldn't be able to access the internet if he did not do the setups for me. I refused to pay that extra 300 bucks and in the end haggled it down to 200. When I went home and was trying out the phone functions, I came across the storage space section and realised that the memory space on the external memory card is not used up at all! So basically, I paid 200 bucks for nothing, aside from the memory card that was totally not needed!

Then again, of course I knew that it was my fault that I wanted to find cheap deals, but it's just so dumb that i was made to pay that extra 200 bucks for nothing! And the salesperson lied that the phone will not work if he did not programme it for me.
I just want to warn people so they don't get scammed like I did.

Thanks!

We would advise everyone to go to only shops that are recommended by friends.

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.