Most of us have probably seen those quizzes online where you can discover your personality, some hidden traits or even just to test your IQ – and some of us can’t resist clicking inside just for fun. Liu, a 45-year-old man in Singapore saw an ad for an IQ quiz while he was scrolling through Facebook on 9th April and got curious.
Source: lianhe zaobao
He clicked inside and started playing by answering 20 questions until he reached the end, Lianhe Zaobao reported. He was requested to fill in his personal details at the end of the quiz, so he proceeded to do so, as he thought that they would send the results over to his email address when he was done.
However, he started to feel something was wrong when the quiz asked for his credit card details. He was surprised as they did not mention that he needed to pay for the quiz, so he quickly exited the page. To his surprise, he received a letter from AG Collection Agency, saying that they have the results of his IQ quiz but he needed to pay SGD59 (RM180). Inside the letter, there was an invoice for the IQ test, instructions on how to pay using Paypal and a certificate indicating the IQ test results alongside some general information regarding the different IQ brackets.
For illustration purposes only | source: imgur
Liu said that he replied to the email saying that he did not fill in his credit card details, and he did not want the IQ test results anymore. Nevertheless, the person who replied him insisted that he pay for it since he had already completed the quiz.
Fed up, he decided to ignore them, but they were relentless as they sent him at least four or five emails in two months, demanding that he should pay up. When he did not reply, they threatened to turn the matter over to a debt collection agency and their legal team.
Source: lianhe zaobao
On 3rd June, they emailed him again, saying that he currently owed them a total of SGD89 (RM272), which includes the aforementioned SGD59 (RM180) and “reminder fees.” In the letter, the company told him that he had five days to clear off his “debts”, otherwise they would send a lawyer letter. He also started receiving a countdown message to remind him to pay up.
As the company had his personal information, Liu was worried that they would do something malicious with these sensitive details. He decided to lodge a police report and also to warn the public about this issue. A check on the internet shows that this scam has actually been around for a few years. A few Norwegian websites have written about this scam as well, and it looks like this one is circulating in Singapore at the moment.
While it is unclear whether anyone in Malaysia has fallen for this scam before, it’s better to be safe than sorry so do be wary of simply giving your information out online!
Also read: 71yo Woman Loses RM20,000 Gold Jewellery to Scammers Near Bentong Market
