SG Woman Loses RM168,000 Of Life Savings After Being Scammed While Buying Durian Online
The Facebook advertisement said it was selling a kilogramme of Musang King durian for only SGD6 (RM20).
By Aqasha Nalani — 12 May 2023, 04:41 PM
A 50-year-old Singaporean woman recently lost SGD50,000 (RM168,000) after being duped while purchasing durian online
According to AsiaOne, a Singaporean news publication, the woman surnamed Xu came across a convincing Facebook promotion for Musang King durian on Thursday, 4 May.
The advertisement said it was selling a kilogramme of the fruit for only SGD6 (RM20), and Xu contacted the seller, TMZ Fresh, right away to place an order for her family.
"The other party replied that the company is currently running a promotion where the Musang King durian is going for SGD6 per kilogram, while the D24 durian is going for SGD3 (RM10) per kilogram," she said.
She then confirmed the delivery details with the seller, including details such as her preferred delivery time and phone number.
Moments later, the seller informed Xu that a staff member from their customer service team would call her to follow up on the order.
Xu said the man from their customer service team sounded Malaysian
During the phone call, the employee informed her that in order to proceed with the payment, she needed to download an app called E2 Mall and provide more personal details, including her banking information.
Following the instructions, Xu tried to complete her transaction on the app several times, but it kept being declined.
She informed the man that all of her payments had failed, and he then told her to go to her bank on Saturday, 6 May, to obtain a bank token to finish the transaction.
On Sunday, 7 May, Xu finally realised that she had been scammed and was left with only SGD7 (RM23) in her savings account
She only noticed the crime when she was trying to pay for a meal, adding that SG50,000 had been withdrawn from her account.
"I found out that on Saturday, there were two unauthorised transfers in my account. The first transfer was SGD27,549 (RM92,487) and the second was SGD26,231 (RM88,062). These are my life savings," she told Zaobao.
Xu went on to lodge a police report and notify her bank.
According to AsiaOne, the police are currently investigating her case.
