SINGAPORE: A terminally ill elderly woman has garnered waves of sympathy online after it became public on Saturday (4 Mar) that she lost a whopping S$80,000 after being duped by a scammer claiming to be Taiwanese sensation Fei Yu Ching.
Mdm Huang, a 71-year-old who suffers from Stage 4 breast cancer, told Shin Min Daily News that she fell prey to the love scam after receiving a text message from someone claiming to be the singer, Fei Yu Ching, in August last year. After chatting for some time, the scammer expressed love for her and suggested they meet up in Singapore.
Mdm Huang fell for the scam and entered into an online relationship with the imposter, eventually agreeing to transfer S$20,000 to a new bank account and sharing the login details with the fraudster.
The love scammer then asked for further sums of S$12,000 and S$10,000 to release packages containing cash and gold bars that were allegedly held up at Singapore Customs. Despite growing suspicions, Mdm Huang transferred an additional S$58,539 into the shared bank account.
It was only after losing contact with the scammer and finding out about the missing money that she realized she had been scammed.
Mdm Huang is not the only woman to be duped by such conmen in Singapore, as online and telephone scams see a meteoric rise in recent years. Statistics released by the Singapore Police Force show that Singaporeans lost a hefty total of $660.7 million to scammers last year. Many of these individuals, like Mdm Huang, were victims of love scams.
A love scam is a type of online scam where scammers use fake identities to gain the trust of victims in order to obtain money or personal information. Love scammers typically create fake online profiles on dating sites or social media platforms and pretend to be someone else, such as a wealthy businessman, a celebrity, or military personnel, in order to gain the trust of their victims.
They then use this trust to manipulate the victims into sending them money, usually by inventing a story that involves a financial emergency or some other urgent need.
Love scams often involve a romantic or emotional aspect, as scammers use flattery and promises of love and affection to lure their victims into giving them money. They can not only be financially devastating for victims but can also cause emotional trauma and damage to victims’ self-esteem.
The police have advised Singaporeans to be cautious when making friends online and ensure that they never send money or gift card activation codes to strangers or people they have not met in person. Those with doubts can easily verify the details of callers with the relevant government agencies.
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