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Source:https://mothership.sg/2022/12/sbf-ftx-arrested/ The Bahamas police have arrested former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, 30. The country’s attorney general said in a statement on Monday, Dec. 12 that the Bahamas has received formal notification from the United States of criminal charges against him, BBC reported. Bankman-Fried is expected to be extradited to the US, Reuters reported. The attorney general’s office for the Bahamas declined to comment on what the charges were though. In a statement released on Twitter, Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York, confirmed Bankman-Fried’s arrest. Williams said the related indictment would be unsealed on Tuesday morning (Wednesday Singapore time). “[We] will have more to say at that time,” he said. Busy making comments since collapse Bankman-Fried had been expected to make his first public appearance before U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday, Dec. 13, since FTX’s collapse. The former wunderkind has been occupied giving media interviews and talks after the collapse of FTX. Even throughout the collapse, his Twitter account was active. He was also tweeting just hours before his arrest. Earlier in the day, he had said he would be “calling in” from the Bahamas to the hearing before the House financial services committee. Bankman-Fried even said during a Twitter Spaces event on Monday with Twitter account Unusual Whales, that it was difficult for him “to move right now and travel because the paparazzi effect is quite large”. The former FTX CEO would not be appearing at the hearing before lawmakers as a result of his arrest. The committee would still hear from John Ray III, FTX’s new chief executive. Ray is a veteran bankruptcy expert who oversaw the aftermath of the collapsed energy giant Enron. He has called FTX an “unprecedented and complete failure of corporate controls”, the likes of which he has not seen in his 40-year career. Background FTX filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection in November 2022, leaving many users unable to withdraw their funds. Bankman-Fried then resigned as chief executive. One of the most serious allegations against him is that he used billions of dollars of customer funds to sustain his investment trading company, Alameda. Traders rushed to withdraw US$6 billion (S$8.14 billion) from the platform in just 72 hours, triggering a liquidity crisis and a run on the exchange as held assets were nowhere close to the amount called back.

There are many types of fraud involved in motor insurance. The more prominent type is insurance touting, which you can read more about here: However, there are less common frauds such as this: ezgif.com-gif-maker (2).mp4 Watch the entire video here: https://www.facebook.com/BehChiaLor/videos/4537913869663747/ What Happened? The accident occurred along Nicole Drive towards Changi Coastal Road. The dashcam footage shows the cam car, a black SUV and a motorcyclist travelling together in the same direction. When they were approaching an intersection, a random Subaru Forester appeared out of nowhere - stuck in the middle of the road after performing an illegal u-turn. Despite braking for a good 5 seconds, the motorcyclist was unable to stop in time and collided with the side of the Subaru Forester's rear section. As a result, the motorcyclist lost his balance and fell to the ground, along with his motorcycle. Something Fishy Is Going On Subsequently, the passenger of the Forester came out of the SUV to "check" on the damages. After glancing at the damages, he proceeded to open the driver's side door and took over as the driver, while the initial driver of the Forester went to the back seat. The video ends when the Subaru Forester and motorcyclist stop further down the road at the roadside. @Cam car After watching the video carefully, here's what grinds my gears: It is the part where the cam car constantly flashes his high beam at the Subaru Forester as he approaches it. FYI, flashing your high beams in that manner would not prevent an accident - Look what happened to the motorcyclist. Netizens' Comments Maybe because that intersection wasn't made for u-turns to be performed there? Highly likely. But if you think about it, if the passenger was sober and possessed a valid license, why would he endanger his own life by sitting in the car? @To those of you wondering why the motorcyclist "did not brake". ======== Receive a $10 PayNow for every submission we publish on Facebook! Simply WhatsApp us ➡️https://bit.ly/3c6JERA

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10157731133872610&id=572922609 OTP FRAUD So this happened months ago, in January 2021, and has dragged on long enough to wear us out. At this point, we are helpless and have no idea how to move forward. It seems the last resort is to refer the case for adjudication and risk DBS retracting their offer of waiving 30% of the amount (and having to pay a 5-figure sum). Here’s what happened: Sometime in early January 2021, I tried using my supplementary credit card to make a purchase online but the transaction could not go through. I thought there was a glitch and simply used another card to make the purchase. A few days later, I tried using the same card and was told that my card was declined. Curious, I called DBS to find out why I hadn’t been able to use my card. It was then that I found out that I had almost exceeded the credit limit. Baffled, I asked for details of the transactions charged to my card since I only recalled using it for some items we needed for our new home. To my horror, I learnt that a total of SEVEN consecutive transactions were charged to my card, each amounting to approximately $1,400. The total damage was $10,150. Note that we had not received the hard copy of our credit card statement then. I informed the staff that I most definitely did not carry out these transactions and requested that they look into the case. Unfortunately, the bank told us that there is no way they are able to refund the money because these were secure transactions, made with OTP. But guess what? I did NOT receive any OTP for these seven transactions at all. The bank claimed I could have keyed in the OTP by mistake. But seven times?! Did the bank seriously think I would be tricked into giving the OTP to a stranger seven times? Long story short, we are liable for the charges. We were advised to lodge a police report so the police could investigate the matter, and were told that an investigation could help with our request for a refund. Imagine being told that there’s nothing you can do but to pay $10,150. I was heavily pregnant then, and was sooo flustered 😭 We rushed to the nearest police station to lodge a police report. So these seven transactions were made to TransferWise (now Wise), a website for monetary transfers abroad. Neither of us knew of TransferWise until this incident. The following morning, I called TransferWise to see if there was anything they could do. The transactions had gone through and there was no way they could reverse the transactions. By the time I called, they had suspended the account used to process these transactions. I was told that the bank had brought to their attention that the account could possibly have been used in a case of fraud, so they acted on the bank’s suspicion and suspended the account. A check showed that the transactions were wired to a Malaysian company, CWP Global Enterprise. The transactions were transferred and processed in ringgit. I then called the police officer assigned to our case and told her of what I had learnt and was asked if I could make a trip down to the station to add these details to my statement. The police has since concluded the case with no favourable outcome. We were told that there were no more leads so her superior advised her to conclude the case. She interviewed the TransferWise account user and found that it was a case of identity theft. Someone had used this person’s personal details to create an account on TransferWise. The transactions were not carried out by this person. A dead end is what we’ve come to. The bank refuses to do anything about the case and insists that we pay the sum of $10,150. In fact, they were unwilling to waive the monthly interest while the police investigation was ongoing. We explained that we had lodged a police report and were waiting for the police to get back to us. Still, they did not want to waive the interest of a few hundred bucks despite my husband putting in an appeal. If we had done nothing, the amount would have snowballed in no time. So I told hubby to go to our MP to see if he could get the bank to waive the interest for us. Days after Ethan’s birth, N went to see our MP, Mr Gan Kim Yong. His assistant helped send an email to Monetary Authority Of Singapore and DBS. The following day (yes, all it took was a day), a manager from DBS called N and told him that the bank would waive the interest for us while the investigation was ongoing. How efficient. Fast forward today.. We acted on the officer’s recommendation to bring our case to FIDReC, an independent and impartial alternative dispute resolution institution. The result? The bank explained that all the disputed transactions were deemed authorised by me since they could only go through with SMS OTPs. There were apparently SMS alerts sent to my mobile number once each disputed transaction was completed. At this point, I wish to reiterate that I did NOT receive a single SMS OTP or alert regarding any of the seven transactions, so help me God.. We are clearly victims of a fraud case. What do we do now? 😭 StarHub says they are only able to track incoming and outgoing calls, and outgoing messages — basically, “anything chargeable”, according to the customer service representative I spoke with. I asked if receipts of text messages are recorded in their system, and was told that Singapore Police Force would have to approach StarHub HQ for access to this data (still unsure at this point if they even have this data). This was communicated to the police officer but as I have said above, there is no favourable outcome — to be honest, I am not sure if she tried. Has any of you experienced something similar? Or do you know of someone who experienced something similar? If it’s not too much trouble, please help to share this post. Thank you 🙏🏼 EDIT: We did try to escalate the case to a higher authority i.e. the head of credit cards. Was told he would get the frauds team to look into the case, and that they’ve not encountered bypassing of OTP before. Frauds team concluded it isn’t fraud because the transactions are “secure with OTP”. I realised I didn’t mention that a total of 10 transactions were made and 7 went through because DBS only started to reject after the 7th transaction and sent a message or email to Wise warning of possible fraudulent activity. Yet they are telling me this isn’t fraud 🙄🤷🏻‍♀️ This, I found out through Wise, not DBS. The bank did not inform me about the attempt to charge 10 transactions to my card. https://mothership.sg/2021/06/dbs-credit-card-fraud-bypass-otp-sms/

AS they say, if it is too good to be true, it probably is. Good try though. https://rentry.co/harsh-dalal-is-a-fraud?fbclid=IwAR2anpIGJ8tgYL4KWexVsUz2rXxXdM_xLtr5LSZMBG5b5_1XUHASbwG3F8k

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/director-envy-asset-global-trading-charge-nickel-fraud-1-billion-14465512 He is let out on bail.... for 1 million? Going to flee...

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/jail-for-women-who-misappropriated-nearly-570k-from-well-known-motorcycle?fbclid=IwAR17aRtN7Fe95vMasxK29OR9ubu905zN02oPlkb81W4X3B4erpMTFBinME0 Two women working for well-known motorcycle retailer Mah Pte Ltd will have to spend time behind bars for their roles in misappropriating nearly $570,000 from their employer. Singaporeans Kamalasari Kamaludin, 36, and Sayeeda Nafisa Osman, 38, took monies meant for the company from at least 457 customers who were making instalment payments. They used the funds to cover their personal expenses and have made no restitution, the court heard. Kamalasari was sentenced on Friday (Jan 29) to four years and four months' jail after pleading guilty to two counts of taking part in a conspiracy to commit criminal breach of trust. She also admitted to two counts of dealing with the benefits of her criminal conduct. Sayeeda was dealt with earlier. She was sentenced to three years and 10 months' jail. The offences took place in 2014 and the following year. Both women stopped working there in November 2015 after their crime was uncovered. On Friday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Chng Luey Chi described how the women siphoned the monies. Both had used their roles in the company to fool Mah Pte Ltd into believing customers were defaulting on instalment payments. Kamalasari had worked in Mah's legal department, and was involved in preparing documents on customers who defaulted on their instalment payments to the firm. Sayeeda worked as a cashier and had access to all of the company's computer systems. The DPP said sometime in 2014, Sayeeda asked to borrow money from Kamalasari. The younger woman replied that she had no cash to spare. The women then hatched the plan to misappropriate the monies. "They would collect cash from customers who were making instalment payments... When a customer handed the instalment payment to Sayeeda, they would issue the customer a manual receipt instead of keying it into the computer system and generating a receipt from there. "This would ensure that the payment was not captured in the computer system. They would then retain the cash given by the customer and split the cash amongst themselves," said the DPP. They started in September 2014 and continued until November 2015. Their offences came to light that month when the company's finance manager checked on a customer's overdue payment and discovered that he had already paid up. The manager conducted a thorough check and realised that the two offenders had been collecting many instalment payments from customers and siphoning the monies for their own use. She alerted the police Nov 24, 2015. DPP Chng said that Kamalasari transferred more than $200,000 of her ill-gotten gains into her bank accounts in 2014 and 2015. For each count of criminal breach of trust, an offender can be jailed for up to 15 years and fined.

Saw this yesterday but surprised that it's not big news since at least 3 major local banks are hit. http://m.todayonline.com/singapore/four-banks-hit-credit-card-fraud

more and more hacking going on

On 07-July, we purchased a 2006 Audi A6 (Reg# SKD 6169 G) from Mich Automobile Pte Ltd in Turf City for S$39,011 and paid the full amount upfront via trading in our old car (Honda Accord, Reg # SDQ 902 K) for $15,999 and DBS bank transfer of $23,012 to the company account of Mich Automobile Pte Ltd. The Sales Agreement was signed together with Michael Boey (Boey Fook Weng, NRIC: S1750030I); while the sole director of this company, his wife, Michelle (Ow Yin Fun, NRIC: S6914096C) was physically present during the sale, however did not sign any contracts / sales agreements. Sales agreement attached for your consideration. Mich Automobile is a Singapore registered company which at this point is solvent. We also had the car insured on the day of purchase by Aviva Insurance Pte Ltd. Upon not receiving the title transfer confirmation from LTA (Land transport Authority) until 27-July, which Michael claimed to have completed, we tried to contact Michael however he was no longer contactable – our messages were ignored and phone calls not answered. At 1am on 01-Aug, a tow truck with 2 individuals in it, gained entry to our condominium, One Amber on false claims without producing any documentation and towed the aforementioned car away. We are separately pursuing the building management and security for a case of negligence and trespassing. Upon not finding the car in our carpark the next morning, we lodged a Police Report at Marine Parade police station. We later found out that Skyway Credit Pte Ltd repossessed this car as they were owed $33,000 from Mich Automobile for this car. Michael absconded from Singapore on 27-July. I am reaching out to fellow members here to check if you or someone you know has been a victim of Mich Automobile. If so, I welcome you to please share my details so we can join forces in taking action against these corrupt individuals. We have all but lost our hard earned money and are running out of options to recover anything from the system at play here…

My friend tried to sell his car, he advertised all over the place. Then a potential “buyer” called my friend to ask for log card image. The buyer didn’t even view the car, and he asked for log card. Reason given is that he need it to get company loan. What are you views ? Latest fraud/scam/cheat? Any sellers got such calls?

Exposed: The secret powerhouse processing millions in global fraud http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/22/news/companies/pacnet-investigation/index.html?iid=hp-toplead-intl dtd 22 Sep 2016 Editor's Note: Today, a Canadian payment processor named PacNet became one of the many targets of an unprecedented crackdown on global mail fraud, which will be announced later today by Attorney General Loretta Lynch. CNNMoney, which is exclusively breaking the news of this action, has spent months digging into this little-known company and the shadowy world of global mail fraud. Our investigation is below: The frauds rake in millions from the sick and elderly -- leaving them with nothing. This is a story about the little-known company that cashes the checks. And it happens victim by victim. ------------------------------------------------- As you read on (it is a very long article) it is sad to find out that many of the victims are the sick and elderly who spent their retirement funds paying fraudsters who obtained payment via this Canadian company called PacNet. Will these victims get at least some of their money back?

I am still wondering when i read the news about these discovery and $10 millions was used in the research to invent something-successful was a fraud. Those that involved was only asked to leave their jobs. All the while, I thought our gahment was very serious with people cheating them and will be charge in court and put to jail. Am I missing something here? Any forummers can enlighten me ?

Dear MCF bros and sis, I just received a phone call at around 3:30pm today with the following message:- "Hi sir, I am from eBay Paypal services. We are currently doing a free verification service for our members. At a time convenient for you, one of our consultants will guide you through a step-by-step process online in order to get this done." At this point, I grew suspicious and hung up the phone. For everyone info, I'm posting the first few numbers of the phone that called me (as per advice from our moderators in MCF). 6760-xxxx PM me for more information on the above. So far, I've asked and it's pointless to call the police on this matter as there hasn't been any real fraud taken place, nor has the person actually taken down any information from me, not even my name, except for having had my handphone number to begin with. With this message, I'm not saying that eBay or Paypal are not genuinely conducting such a program, but that since the manner in which this lady approached me seems dubious, I am leaning towards the side of caution. I am investigating this matter directly with eBay customer service staff members

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29961566

http://www.ageofautism.com/2014/08/senior-government-scientist-breaks-13-years-silence-on-cdcs-vaccine-autism-fraud.html

http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/education/story/ex-nus-prof-resume-fraud-scandal-us-20140912#xtor=CS1-10 this fraudster was an assistant NUS professor! i pity those who attended his "lectures" lol

hmmmm. i dunno what to say. Any bros in financial industry can confirm? i use vpost all the way since it started. http://www.allsingaporestuff.com/article/whistle-blow-mas-and-banks-cover-recent-credit-card-fraudulent-transactions WHISTLE BLOW: MAS AND BANKS COVER UP THE RECENT CREDIT CARD FRAUDULENT TRANSACTIONS I am sure almost all of you know of the recent fraudulent credit card transactions that appeared in the news last week. Many Singaporeans who shop online received a rude shock when a Taiwan company Neweb Technologies billed unsuspecting consumers NT$1150 which they never spend. I work in a bank dealing with compliance, risk management, operations and this is the low down of how the banks and the Ministry of Finance, MAS, is hiding certain information from consumers who have the right to know what happen. It has been a very demoralizing week at work for me and made worse after reading the statement made by The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) published on news yesterday. It said, "Preliminary investigations indicate that there was no breach of any systems within the banks. All affected customers in Singapore will not be liable for these unauthorized transactions. Banks are working with the credit card associations to investigate these incidences." "The ABS clarified that while banks in Singapore have enhanced their security measures and safeguards, cardholders can also play their part when shopping on-line." Some may think it was a kind gesture on the part of the banks to waive liability for all those affected. But the fact is that there was a criminal act involved and consumers need not take on liability in the first place. The real reason why the frauds took place was because ComGateway was hacked and hundreds of thousands of consumers' credit cards and cvc numbers were compromised. Yes, they were stolen because ComGateway, one of the major online concierge/forwarding provider, did not secure the information stored with them. In other words, consumers were open to fraudulent charges not only from Neweb but also any company which the crooks had connection to or sold the information to. So when the banks say that cardholders need to "play their part" when performing online transaction, it is rather unfair. How can cardholders be aware of such possibilities, when it is expected of the banks and MAS to ensure that credit card transactions, at the operational level, are safe?! Is MAS, as a regulator, trying to conceal vital information from consumers? Absolutely appalled with MAS, as they should have be upfront with consumers and informed them that it was ComGateway that was compromised. Consumers have the right to know and take precautionary measures. Working in a bank, I can understand why banks would want to minimize the impact of this issue because it affects the confidence that consumers have in e-commerce, a fast growing business by the way. But why would MAS hide behind the shadows? What vested interests do they have? Modern online transactions have become increasingly complex as organizations try to deal with the problems arising from global online marketplaces, local merchants, online forwarders, and international finance. As usual, the government has allowed big business to grow bigger and earn bigger profits, while doing the bare minimum for security and fiduciary duty. Simply said, the interest of consumers is the last of their concerns as long as the economy is growing. MAS seems to have lost its lead role regulating the many parties involved in online shopping and the multifaceted challenges that it brings. It cannot be the case where only banks are regulated while others can operate at the lowest costs possible without giving a damn about personal security. If MAS continues to twiddle its thumbs and take a "hands off" approach, only consumers will suffer as more of such cases are bound to surface.

KNNBCCB! Guys, please check your credit card transaction! Log in today and found out that Neweb Technologies charged my credit card 4 times (each time S$49)! Called to block the card and get dispute form. Never got any SMS from POSB also. FYI only.

Fabrice was also mentioned in Greg's Why I Left Goldman Sachs A federal jury found former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. trader Fabrice Tourre liable for defrauding investors in a deal that imploded during the financial crisis, delivering a victory for a U.S. regulator out to prove its mettle inside the courtroom. The panel of nine jurors found Mr. Tourre liable on six of seven claims that he violated federal securities law by intentionally misleading investors. The jurors also determined he had aided and abetted an alleged fraud by Goldman. The unambiguous result surprised many lawyers who had watched the proceedings, expecting that the esoteric subject matter and more than two weeks of conflicting testimony would make a clear-cut victory unlikely. "They got a big win today," said David Marder, a securities litigator uninvolved in the case and a former assistant director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Boston Regional office. After a string of high-profile defeats in other crisis-related civil cases, the SEC's reputation as a tough Wall Street watchdog was on the line in Mr. Tourre's trial, according to lawyers. Thursday marked the SEC's first victory in front of a jury for a financial-crisis case, five years after the meltdown. The verdict produced "happiness around the halls" of the SEC's D.C. headquarters, said one person close to the agency. Mr. Tourre's loss also delivered a bitter postscript to one of the darkest periods for Goldman. Facing a public backlash for its actions during the crisis, the firm agreed to pay a $550 million fine without admitting or denying wrongdoing back in 2010 when the SEC filed the charges against both Mr. Tourre and the bank. In his closing arguments, SEC lawyer Matthew Martens told jurors that "documents don't lie," alluding to emails and marketing materials that formed the core of the agency's case. After the verdict, juror Beth Glover, a 47-year-old Episcopal priest, said: "It was a long, slow process." Flanked by his lawyers, Mr. Tourre, 34 years old, sat back in his chair as the judge's deputy read aloud the decision. Co-counsel John "Sean" Coffey squeezed Mr. Tourre's shoulder. Mr. Tourre, who once went by the nickname "fabulous Fab," was expressionless as his lawyers led him out of the courtroom. "The case is still ongoing," a spokesman for Mr. Tourre said. His lawyers will meet with the SEC and Judge Katherine Forrest later this year to discuss Mr. Tourre's penalty. He may have to wait weeks to learn what it is. The SEC will ask the judge to impose sanctions, which could include financial penalties and a ban from the financial-services industry, an SEC spokesman said. Goldman said in a statement: "As a firm, we remain focused on being more transparent, more accountable, and more responsive to the needs of our clients." "We're obviously gratified with the jury's verdict and we appreciate their hard work," said Mr. Martens, the SEC lawyer. The verdict has important ramifications for the SEC and the firms it polices, legal experts said, adding weight to SEC Chairman Mary Jo White's pledge before she took office in April to be a "bold and unrelenting" Wall Street cop. It adds credibility to a new policy Ms. White announced in June of forcing companies and individuals to admit wrongdoing to settle certain cases or face being taken to trial, according to lawyers. Critics have faulted the agency for pursuing fairly junior employees, such as Mr. Tourre, one of many at Goldman who had a vice president title. After this verdict, critics are still likely to "question why the SEC never goes after the high-level employees and seems to focus on the lower-level actors," said Mr. Marder, the securities litigator. The civil trial, which began July 15, led jurors through a dense fog of industry jargon, to a time on Wall Street when one era was drawing to a close and the dark clouds of another loomed. The SEC's case centered on a complex mortgage-linked deal between sophisticated investors, and whether Mr. Tourre misled them on the role that New York hedge fund Paulson & Co. would play in that instrument. In April 2010, the SEC sued Mr. Tourre and Goldman for securities fraud, alleging they misled investors in an investment called Abacus 2007-AC1, known in Wall Street jargon as a synthetic collateralized debt obligation. The action stunned the industry, drew Goldman into a public spat and shattered the once-promising career of Mr. Tourre. The SEC offered Mr. Tourre a settlement, giving him a day to accept a fine and a lifetime securities-industry ban but with the right to reapply in two years, people familiar with the matter said. Unlike Goldman, he declined to settle. Abacus's origins traced to 2006, when Paulson & Co. went to Goldman with a trading idea to bet against subprime mortgages. Mr. Tourre suggested creating a deal that would allow investors to place opposing bets on a basket of mortgage bonds. Goldman set out to enlist a company to select those bonds, giving investors confidence that mortgages in the basket were neither too good nor too risky. By January, ACA Financial Guaranty Corp., a bond insurer that was one of Goldman's biggest CDO clients, appeared eager to take on the assignment, emails and court testimony showed. The SEC unearthed emails, phone calls and meetings it argued showed that Mr. Tourre led ACA executives to believe Paulson would be making a long investment in Abacus, betting on it to rise. The SEC said Abacus's misunderstanding about that was never corrected by anyone at Goldman. It also accused Mr. Tourre of hiding the hedge fund's role in helping select the mortgage bonds from investors that would eventually bet on the deal. Paulson wasn't accused of any wrongdoing. Several emails from Mr. Tourre to his girlfriend at the time, a Goldman saleswoman at the firm's London office, revealed that Mr. Tourre shared some pessimism about the market. At his trial, Mr. Tourre translated what he wrote, partly in French, to her: "The entire building is at risk of collapse at any moment. Only potential survivor, the fabulous Fab (as Mitch would kindly call me, even though there is nothing fabulous about me

Singapore based banker charged "A former Singapore banker who allegedly helped Olympus Corp. (7733) engage in what U.S. prosecutors said was a $1.7 billion accounting fraud was arrested in California." Another FT making us famous...

My wife reced this email last week supposedly from his company supplier. She thought it is real but luckily she replied saying that she doesnt have the money. Only today when the supplier came and when asked, he told my wife that he did not emailed her and that was a SCAM. He believed that his email was being HACKED. "I'm writing this with tears in my eyes. I came down here Spain, Madrid for a short vacation to visit a resort and got mugged at gun point last nite at the hotel where I lodged. All cash, credit card, cell were stolen off me. I've been to the Spain Embassy and the Police here but they're not helping issues at all. My return flight leaves tomorrow and I have problems settling the hotel bills. The hotel manager wont let us leave until we settle the hotel bills which is 1500 Euro or anything that you can afford now. I am totally freaked out. Please reply back and let me know if you are able to help out so that I can give necessary details. You will need to get to me via Western Union money transfer. I promise to pay you back as soon as I get home. Koh XXX XXX (Real Name)

DBS Bank said that it had $23,000 stolen from 17 customers' bank accounts last Sunday as fraudsters used Singapore ATM machines to make unauthorised withdrawals. Security measures the bank put in place helped alert customers to the incident, and no further unauthorised withdrawals have since been made. This incident is a continuation of the ATM skimming scheme that saw $1 million stolen from the bank accounts of 700 DBS and POSB customers last month. 'On Feb 19, Sunday night, DBS received calls from a handful of customers who were alerted to unauthorised ATM withdrawals in Singapore, after receiving real-time SMS alerts from the bank,' a spokesman for the bank said in response to queries from The Straits Times. Source

Not sure if this is true story. Taken from another forum I received a text message saying there was a transaction of max amount drawn on my card yesterday. I called later to check and was told there was a withdrawal done in boon lay area. I informed the staff I did not go to Boon Lay and my card was with me all the while. I was shocked and was directed to lodge a police report right away, in which I did. I was told the dbs bank investigator will be getting in touch with me. A police report was lodged about an hours time and sequence of events was narrated to the police. Today, I went over to POSB bank to hand over my police report at about 11.00 am and to reactivate a new card. Almost the same time, 2K was credited back to my account and I received a call saying the amount has been placed back to my account by the bank. I thank the bank for that. I ponder how on earth did those people got my card and information. The only odd incidence that I came across during the past few days was when I was at NTUC whampoa, withdrawing some cash during noon time and the atmosphere was not normal. The ATM teller was empty and there was a group of guys of varying age between 20 plus to 40 plus, seems to be on the look-out. My first impression was there might be a gang fight and most of em was looking anxiously, on high alert towards the driveway of the road. Well I did my normal withdrawal and left thereafter. From the dressisng of those guys, they looked more like malaysians than local singaporean. I could tell this difference. There were between 6 to 8 people and that caught my attention and was about 30 metres away from where the ATm teller was. I tried calling the bank's line to report on fraudulent withdrawal the second time, i could not get thru yesterday. I presumed there will be lots of other customers calling in to check and report as well. The bank would have the record of those callers called complainant and where the fraudsters commit those offence. If whampoa is where the fraud occured, then those people do not work alone but in big groups. Quite sure they are malaysians, from their dressing. So far, nobody call me for interview or statement. The next time I will bring my pentax camera around and when I see suspicious character, snap some shots for future reference. The information above is for those whosoever is concerned, if it is helpful. I hope we could do our part a little so as to prevent and stop those pest from commiting crime.. Spoilt my night sleep, thinking why, how ???????how come.. stressed

Rare! An FT convicted! Maybe this FT not elite enough

Suspects Loke Siew Fei (left) and H