Singapore—Alexandra Low, a former valedictorian from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is currently being investigated by the police for reportedly cheating over 70 of her friends and acquaintances of more than $800,000, which she is said to have used for breast enhancement procedures.
Straitstimes.com (ST) reports that the former financial analyst lied to the people she borrowed the money from, at times telling them that she needed the money since she was putting a down payment on property and other such falsehoods.
Friends from whom she borrowed money expressed surprise at her behavior. A man who identified himself to ST as ‘Mr Tan’ said, “This wasn’t someone who’s a serial gambler who doesn’t have a job… She was a very esteemed member of NTU and she was a valedictorian of the school.”
ST obtained the information regarding Ms Low’s case from a copy of a police report. To date, over 10 such police reports have been filed against Ms Low by the people she had allegedly scammed.
Ms Low is said to have told the friends and acquaintances whom she approached to borrow money that her mother was in the hospital and the family needed help with paying bills, or that her uncle needed to repay debts he had incurred because of an accident at work.
The 25-year-old NTU graduate told the police that she borrowed between $800,000 to $900,000 from different people so that she could get breast enhancement procedures.
On average, she was able to borrow around $6,500 from among her friends and acquaintances. However, she was able to borrow $121,500 from just one individual.
Some of the friends whom Ms Low had borrowed money from realized that she had been asking for loans from many of them when they began talking amongst themselves, they told ST.
While a number of them confronted Ms Low concerning her various loans, others went with her to a police station in November to make a confession of her wrongdoing.
One of Ms Low’s friends and fellow schoolmates said that Ms Low borrowed over $20,000 four months ago, claiming she needed money to pay the downpayment on her home, but, since her father leant the money to another friend, she was shorn on cash. She also promised this friend that she would pay them back in a few days.
Ms Low ended up only partially paying the loan in staggered amounts, giving her friend excuses as to why she could not pay back in full, while attempting to borrow more money.
To date, she still owes this friend over $5000.
Her friend, who declined to be named, told ST, “We thought it was her father (who) went into a lot of debt. That’s why even though she wasn’t telling us the truth, we still lent her money, because she sounded really desperate.”
Ms Low, who lost her job after her bosses were informed that she was under police investigation, has said that she has repaid about $400,000 to different people creditors through her father.
She also said that she’s now undergoing treatment and counseling, and added that she means to play people back the sums that she borrowed. ”In terms of repayment I do intend to repay, but I do have to find the means for another source of income.” -/TISG
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