Beware of scammers

[Ingenius]

A news article reported that one person got scammed of $2.3million by this parcel scam. As the saying goes , a fool and his money parts soon. But it beckons the question how did a fool manage to earn so much money ?

 

We should educate the people around us , prevention is better than cure. I hope these scammers will get there retribution soon one day.

Edited June 10, 2016 by Ingenius

[Vratenza]

Plucky salesgirl helps customer escape $4,000 parcel scam

Mrs Jacelyn Wong, who works at the SK Jewellery shop in Clementi Mall, stopped a woman in her 50s from being cheated of $4,000 in a phone scam.

Photo: Courtesy of Mrs Jacelyn Wong

 

 

 

 

 

 

The woman in her 50s looked fearful as she entered the SK Jewellery shop in Clementi Mall, asking to buy plenty of gold jewellery.

Mrs Jacelyn Wong, 23, a customer service executive, thought it was odd.

She told The New Paper yesterday: "The lady didn't mention much. She just took out all of her credit cards, asking us to swipe the maximum amount for each credit card.

 

"When asked, she just said she wanted to sell off all the gold for cash."

Mrs Wong felt something was wrong. So she asked the customer why she needed such a large sum of money.

The woman, who had walked into the shop with earpiece plugged in, told Mrs Wong to be quiet, and proceeded to buy $4,000 worth of jewellery.

But she eventually confided in Mrs Wong, who kept asking her if everything was okay.

According to her, the person on the other end of the phone line wanted her to transfer money overseas. The man claimed to be a police officer from the "Shanghai Police Division" and demanded an administrative fee, saying he had a parcel under the woman's name which contained illegal items.

Mrs Wong asked the woman if she truly had a parcel in shipping and the woman said no.

Sensing it was probably a scam, Mrs Wong persuaded the woman to make a police report and even accompanied her to the Clementi Neighbourhood Police Post to do so.

INTERVENTION

Mrs Wong said: "I have been reading a lot about parcel scams on Facebook, so I was aware of it. I knew that something was wrong."

The incident happened on May 29. Thanks to Mrs Wong's intervention, the woman did not transfer any money to the scammer.

She also did not ask for a refund from SK Jewellery, saying she will wait for the price of gold to rise before she sells off the gold jewellery she had bought.

"She was very fearful and kept saying 'I don't know', when I questioned her. Her emotions probably affected her judgment," said Mrs Wong.

To thank Mrs Wong and her colleagues at SK Jewellery for helping her, the woman bought them egg tarts after making the police report.

Mrs Wong may have been able to intervene and prevent the woman in her 50s from being scammed, but not all are so lucky.

A victim of a parcel scam in her 40s, who wanted to be known only as Madam Quek, was asked by a scammer, who spoke to her in Mandarin, to transfer money to a bank account in China.

Madam Quek told TNP: "I did not buy anything and was not expecting any parcel, but I believed him because I was frightened and worried.

"They said they will return my money if nothing illegal was found in my parcel."

She was scammed of $130,000.

Madam Quek realised she had been duped more than a month later, on May 30.

"I only realised I was cheated of my money after my daughter shared a story with me of someone who fell prey to the parcel scam," said Madam Quek.

She eventually made a police report and is now "extremely wary of strangers who call or message her".

50 people cheated of $4m

Parcel scams started to emerge here at the end of March, with the highest surge of these scams reported in April.

Ms Yolanda Yu, head of the Financial Crime Policy and Operations Branch at the Singapore Police Force, said that to date, at least 50 people have fallen prey to parcel scams.

According to her, a total of about $4 million has been scammed from these 50 people. The biggest amount lost from a single incident for a parcel scam was $2.3 million.

The conmen, who usually spoke Mandarin, would typically call the victim and claim to be from an overseas courier company.

They would then transfer the line to someone posing as a Chinese government official, saying that illegal items such as fake passports and fraudulent credit cards had been found in a parcel under their identity.

To resolve the issue, a sum of money would have to be transferred. Otherwise, the victim would be reported to the police.

CHANGED TACTICS

Recently, parcel scammers changed their tactics - they pretended to be from the Singapore Police Force or local courier companies such as Singpost.

Most parcel scammers also utilise Caller ID Spoofing tactics, to change their overseas numbers to local ones so as to appear more convincing.

So what are the red flags that one should spot to avoid being scammed?

Ms Yu said that the first red flag is when someone asks you to transfer or remit money overseas.

The second red flag is if someone requests that you receive an amount of money into your bank account, and then transfer those funds to another account.

The funds could be illegal and your bank account could be implicated for facilitating the movement of illegal proceeds.

The police also advise not giving out personal information and bank details to callers over the phone.

You should call a trusted family member, relative or friend for counsel before acting.

Those with information related to such crimes or who are in doubt should call the police hotline at 1800-255-0000.

[email protected]

- See more at: http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/plucky-salesgirl-helps-customer-escape-4000-parcel-scam#sthash.NeMMz28K.dpuf

 

 

 

 

 

[Jman888]

these scammer in china are mostly o be taiwanese as mentioned few months ago.  

 

There are many scammer caught overseas and deported back, but once they were release immediately after touch down in taiwan airport cos taiwan police say they have not done anything wrong in taiwan. 

 

Taiwan lagi boleh!!

[Othello]

"Mrs Wong asked the woman if she truly had a parcel in shipping and the woman said no."

 

 

"Madam Quek told TNP: "I did not buy anything and was not expecting any parcel, but I believed him because I was frightened and worried.

"They said they will return my money if nothing illegal was found in my parcel."

She was scammed of $130,000."

 

 

Some people are just .............................   and then these aunties will be those sort that will accuse the tao gey seller of overcharging them by 20cents 

Edited June 10, 2016 by Othello

[Jman888]

if every script of such scam can make 10s of millions, not bad to have a job as script writer

[Kb27]

If you want to scam, you know who to go for.

[2BDriver]

 

 

 

This are the smarter Singaporean      

DHL scammer to man who pranks him: Do you still want to play?

Posted on 14 June 2016 | 1,411 views | 0 comments

     

AsiaOne

June 13, 2016

Have you been recently harrassed by scammers calling to request for you to remit money for a suspicious parcel? You're not alone.

Fed up with these scams, one netizen decided to prank one supposed scammer.

The man, who goes by the moniker Benedict Mrmarksman, posted on Facebook a recording of his phone conversation with the scammer on Wednesday (June 8).

Speaking in Mandarin, the recording starts off with an ongoing phone conversation between the scammer and Mrmarksman. The netizen then tells the scammer that he is "Willy Chen" and he is known as "Wei".

After a minute or so of clarifying his name, the scammer asks him to hold while he confirms Mrmarksman's telephone number.

The scammer comes back on the line and says that on May 25, the netizen posted a parcel containing clothes via courier service DHL. The scammer then asks Mrmarksman to verify this information.

At this point, Mrmarksman pretends that he can't hear the scammer and tells him to repeat himself.

The scammer does so but sounds impatient as the conversation goes along. Mrmarksman tells him that the information about the DHL parcel is correct.

The scammer said that the parcel was supposedly checked by the Shanghai authorities and found to contain dangerous articles, and asks Mrmarksman for an explanation.

The netizen denies this and says that he posted the parcel to Zhejiang, China. The scammer then asks for the recipient's address and name.

Mrmarksman replies that he sent the parcel to "Wei Jun Ru" but the scammer tells him that the information is incorrect.

Unexpectedly, after Mrmarksman appears confused, the scammer says: "Do you still want to play?"

Ending the conversation, Mrmarksman then tells him: "Oh you know. Goodbye then."

On Monday (June 6), Ms Cynthia Tay-Lek did not fall prey to a similar scam but also posted on Facebook an account of her phone conversation with the scammer.

Ms Tay-Lek played along with the scammer and said: "I'm sorry I can't (send money) now cos I'm halfway killing someone."

The conversation ended when the scammer could not get her to remit money to him.

[Kb27]

I won't waste my time with scammers.

They will only hear one "click" sound within one second, after they call.

[Kb27]

Well, what do you know?

Got my first scam from +65 6528 5886

 

..ning hao..DHL..

 

..click..

[Jman888]

Well, what do you know?

Got my first scam from +65 6528 5886

 

..ning hao..DHL..

 

..click..

 

 

mine was 65651887  during lunch time   

[Watwheels]

Just whack this to the "Chinese DHL" caller....

 

"去你妈的超吉白!"

 

And dan hang up.

[Jman888]

i believe at this rate they should be able to cover all mobile number in singapore within 3 months, time to change another script.

[Freddyc]

While it's good to warn people of such scam on Fb and other social media, posting scam conversation and acts that make the scammers a fool on Fb might let those scammers know your face as well when people start to share your post.

[Mockngbrd]

SG polis doing wat? got all the fone number liao still cannot trace?

[Zxcvb]

While it's good to warn people of such scam on Fb and other social media, posting scam conversation and acts that make the scammers a fool on Fb might let those scammers know your face as well when people start to share your post.

 

Then post anonymously. Ppl always like to use "my friend" mah.

[Jman888]

SG polis doing wat? got all the fone number liao still cannot trace?

 

 

you can try calling, can't even get through one.

[Freddyc]

Then post anonymously. Ppl always like to use "my friend" mah.

Agreed. At least some form of anonymous will be good :).

 

Am thinking if it because Singapore is so safe that people take safety for granted and becomes an easy target.

[Adrianli]

While it's good to warn people of such scam on Fb and other social media, posting scam conversation and acts that make the scammers a fool on Fb might let those scammers know your face as well when people start to share your post.

 

I dont think China has open up to FB yet.   Unless we start using weibo account. And those scammers are not know to be able to read english.