Elderly woman loses $16,500 in scam involving fake official and secret code
She was told to hand the money over to a man who gave the secret code '900'.
A 70-year-old woman was cheated of $16,500 after a fraudster posing as a government official accused her of being involved in a criminal case and instructed her to hand over her savings for "investigation".
To complete the handover, she had to confirm a secret code, "900", before handing over the money.
Ms Li, a retireee, reached out to Shin Min Daily News to share her experience in hopes of warning others. She said she had believed the scammer was a representative from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Fooled by text message
The incident began on July 10, when she suddenly received a text message stating that her "UnionPay insurance" was expiring and that $750 would be automatically deducted from her savings account each month for the next two years.
Worried about the unauthorised charges, Ms Li called the number in the message and was told that she was suspected of involvement in a fraud case. The caller warned her that there would be serious consequences if she did not cooperate.
She was then asked for her personal information, including whether she lived alone, how many bank accounts she had, and how much she had in savings.
Upon learning that she lived alone, he instructed her to withdraw all her money to help with the "investigation".
A secret code
When Ms Li asked why she had to hand over her savings, the scammer claimed they needed to verify the serial numbers on the banknotes to determine if the money was linked to criminal activity. Convinced, she complied.
On July 12, she withdrew $7,500 from two bank branches. Although she offered to hand over the money at the bank, the scammer insisted she meet someone downstairs at her home instead.
She was told to hand the money over to a man who would give her the code '900'.
When she went downstairs, she saw a man waiting near the rubbish chute. He walked up to her and said "900", and she handed over the cash. He immediately walked away.
Two days later, the scammer repeated the ruse, convincing her to withdraw another $9,000 using the same method, bringing the total to $16,500.
When Ms Li tried to contact the scammer again to report the handover, he could no longer be reached. That was when she realised she had been scammed. She reported the case to the police the following day.
In response to queries from Shin Min, the police confirmed that a report had been lodged and investigations are ongoing.