Online-based scams are on the rise. Scammers have become much more innovative and are now pretending to be someone they’re not to manipulate and make their victims fall in love with them to the point where they’d be willing to send them money.
According to a report by Shin Min Daily News, 2 men in Singapore recently lodged police reports after falling for what is believed to be a love scam.
One of the victims, named Chen, spent a total of S$30,000 (RM95,267) on gifts for an influencer, whilst the other victim, Lim, spent S$3,000 (RM9,526) on the same influencer.
The influencer is said to be from Malaysia but is currently based in Taiwan.
How did it happen?
Chen, a salesperson, said he started following the influencer about 1 to 2 years ago and became her fan.
In November 2021, the streamer began interacting with her fans, and Chen was overjoyed when he received a reply from her on January 14, 2022.
He claimed they started chatting almost daily and that the influencer would also send him selfies.
“She told me that the company wanted her to collect 100 ‘Full of Love’ virtual presents and that she wouldn’t be able to continue hosting the live stream if she didn’t hit this target. She asked me to spend S$50 (RM158) on these virtual gifts for her.”
The influencer was hosting streams every weekday, and Chen said he once spent S$2,500 (RM7,939) on virtual gifts for her.
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The pair eventually started “dating” on March 1, and the influencer requested presents every 14th day of the month.
Chen said that she also demanded that he be on top of the gift-giving leaderboard during each of her live streams and that she would get upset if he could not do so.
Other victims
Eventually, Chen realised there was something off when parts of their conversation did not add up.
His suspicions were then confirmed when other fans of the influencer contacted him in May 2022.
“I’m very disappointed. I know I won’t be able to get my money back, but I hope others don’t end up like me. I made a police report and hope that they will investigate.”
He believes there are at least 5 victims, 3 in Singapore, 1 in Malaysia and 1 in South Korea.
Lodging of police report
Meanwhile, Lim told SMDN that he only became aware of what was happening when Chen contacted him on June 11. The men then decided to go to the police station to file their reports together.
They have also compared the text messages exchanged with the influencer and found that the contents are identical and that the texts were also sent simultaneously.
We hope that the victims get the justice they deserve and that a proper and complete investigation is done on the influencer.
Have you heard of anything similar? Let us know in the comments.
Also read: Beware of This M’sian Girl Offering Sex Services For RM250
