Woman left with S$0.12 in account after her son got scammed on fake Carousell phishing site

SINGAPORE: A man fell prey to a phishing scam after intending to sell his watch on Carousell. He used his mother’s bank account details without her knowledge, which enabled the scammers to access the account and take almost all her savings.

They left the man’s mother, 64-year-old Mdm Jiang, with only S$0.12 in her account.

Telling Shin Min Daily News that she does not fully blame her son, she wanted to share her story anyway in order to raise awareness against clicking links from people they don’t know.

The backstory

The problems began when Mdm Jiang’s son put up a watch on sale for S$50 on Carousell. A potential buyer sent him a message on July 9, and after exchanging numbers, the two men took the conversation about the sale of the watch to WhatsApp, agreeing on the sale on July 11.

While Mdm Jiang’s son asked to be paid in cash or via PayNow, the other man said he wanted to use Carousell’s payment system instead.

The buyer then sent him a payment link that was allegedly from the platform. The report said that the page looked very similar to Carousell’s webpage and contained the fake buyer’s information.

Mdm Jiang’s son followed a “Receive Payment” link, which required him to put in bank account details. Because his own account was not available at the time, he used his mother’s, later asking her for a one-time password.

Afterwards, when he asked her to see if the payment had come in, she found out that S$4,600 had been taken from her account, leaving her with just 12 cents, and although she called the bank immediately after receiving a notification of the transaction, it was too late. The bank, however, told Mdm Jiang to file a report with the police.

When she checked the link her son had clicked, she discovered that it was a scam website.

After the scam

Mdm Jiang is a widow who owns a car repair company. After her husband died three years ago, she discovered that the business was in a sorry financial state.

Since then, she’s been struggling to stay afloat, and the scam has made things worse; she now has to borrow money for her expenses. 

She is the only working member of her family, as both of her sons have trouble with employment since the oldest one has a criminal record and the other declared bankruptcy.

Mdm Jiang is also the caregiver for a grandson with autism.

She has since put up her Telok Blangah HDB flat for sale and hopes to move to a smaller unit, as this would ease some of her family’s financial troubles. /TISG

Read also: Facebook Marketplace and Carousell remain lowest-ranked in 2025 scam safety ratings