Singapore: Investment scam via Facebook traps more than 100 residents

Investment scam
Investment scam (Representational picture) Pixabay]

Singapore police is investigating the investment scam which started through Facebook and trapped many after claiming that within three months it can double the money that people invest.

According to reports, a victim, who was named as Tan said on Sunday that almost 165 people have been trapped by the alleged scam. Another 21-year-old sales assistant lodged a police complaint on Friday, March 2, as he transferred S$2,000 in October 2017 to a man, who claimed that he was an investment consultant.

The unnamed consultant shared several posts on Facebook in 2017, where he promised to double the invested amount within three months.

Tan, who came to know about the investment scam through a friend, had asked the consultant for the payment after the completion of three months in January 2018. But the woman was told that she will receive the money after some time, as the man was hospitalized for kidney stone issues.

The alleged suspect also told her his daily bank transfer limit is $50,000, so for that reason, he could only pay her a limited amount at one time.

Later, Tan suspected that she may have been cheated after reading the comments on the culprit's Facebook page, where other victims of this scam also have asked for their payments.

Even though she lost her hope to get her money back, Tan took a screenshot of a Facebook post, where the man wrote that he was in South Korea. In the same post, he mentioned that his phone connection was very poor and he urged for more time to return the money.

But on the other hand, according to his latest Facebook updates, the suspect posted that he will be back in Singapore by Monday, March 5.

This is not the first case of such scams, which took place in the south-east Asian country. Earlier, Singapore Airlines (SIA) warned people that scammers pretending to be its employees are contacting random people to get personal information and bank details.In a Facebook post, it said the scammers are trying to trap customers by claiming that they will be given free air tickets or credits through emails, calls, messages, surveys and contests.

This article was first published on March 4, 2018
Related topics : Singapore crime
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