Singapore – Members of the public are raising awareness on a particular scammer who used quite a few tactics in scamming others – from borrowing money for his father diagnosed with cancer to donations for his pet dog, also with cancer.
The ideas people get to scam others of their money seem endless. Thanks to social media and technology, their modus operandi has become increasingly believable and successful.
On July 26 (Wednesday), Pauline Doradora Ah went to Facebook to share her story with Colin Ho, the alleged scammer.
It started with a DM in Instagram under the handle @save_fluffy. Colin introduced himself and his pet dog named Fluffy.
He started embarrassed while explaining his situation how he needed to save his ten-year-old dog suffering from skin cancer.
Colin was thorough with his facts and gave complete details on the diagnosis, the vet, and the costs.
“At this present moment I couldn’t come up with the money as I have exhausted all my savings last December for my mum’s chemo treatment as she’s diagnosed with cervical cancer,” wrote Colin in the screenshot.
He proceeded to ask for S$20 to S$50 donation from Ms Pauline.
Ms Pauline asked for the vet details such as the name of the clinic and the outstanding bill of Fluffy.
“Fluffy goes to west Coast Vetcare, Dr Liang,” said Colin who also included his paynow number for the donation.
When Ms Pauline repeatedly asked for the vet bill, Colin was unable to answer.
Colin excused that they haven’t had the surgery yet, so he didn’t have any definite answer nor a receipt.
This sparked some suspicion in Ms Pauline, who started digging about on Colin’s background.
“I used my own IG acc to test him. Turns out, he did not disappoint lol,” she wrote.
“I was blocked after asking for the vet bill. He said “Fluffy” still hasn’t went thru surgery yet but in his IG post, he claimed that Fluffy already went for his 1st surgery! Lmao.”
Ms Pauline added an update on her post and said that West Coast Vet had been contacted. There was no “Fluffy” in their system.
“Apparently, he has gambling issue as well. He approached his friends for loans too,” wrote Ms Pauline.
Read the full post below:
https://www.facebook.com/Kittymeowzx/posts/10216997852672321?__xts__[0]=68.ARAQMCYYg1PGFuQgUdILFApUBzP241cFz0Sz7za0fihlDVhplcZsHinN2gzReIG00h-y4VCj7NtyrrF6azYaWSXjUZ79Izd0wiRh_SCJy2q9DE4HUwnr-hpE0RcwuKYL9d41rnEBTi8Vo5b-7c8JaxqpIYSFFcRQHI1KRPq-HYuqbkaqfs1pNxTlzPgWO6pdhEewScBEb3i46TLsig&__tn__=-R
It turns out that there are more Facebook posts concerning Colin. On April 4 and 9, Nat Tan and Nasz Ismail shared their experiences with the scammer.
On this occasion, Colin targeted wedding vendors as a photographer asking for financial assistance for his father with colon cancer.
Colin even provided them with his IC card. He borrowed money from the victims and never paid them back.
https://www.facebook.com/NaszIsmail/posts/10155927004235957?__tn__=K-R
https://www.facebook.com/nat.tan26/posts/10161484524745007?__tn__=K-R
The comments on the posts showed that many received the same message from Colin asking for donations or financial assistance.
Police reports have been made on the incidents.
Those who think they have been scammed or are currently a target by a scammer can seek assistance via the Anti-Scam Helpline at 1800-722-6688.
According to the Scam Alert website, loan scams, credit-for-sex scams, cheating involving e-commerce, internet love scams and email impersonation scams are the top five scams from January to April 2019. Extra precaution on these topics should be taken.
