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Keiji Maeda
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Maid falls for $20k lucky draw scam
Conmen claiming to be from Petronas or Coca Cola send SMS asking for downpayment
By Veena Bharwani
October 09, 2010
She thought she had won $20,000.
But Miss Sopiyanah, 40, an Indonesian maid ended up losing $74 in a mobile phone scam instead.
It may be a small sum for most but it is about 20 per cent of her monthly salary.
Still, she considers herself lucky. Miss Sopiyanah could have lost another $400 if her employer Jenny Ong, 84, a retiree, did not step in to help her.
The scam came in the form of an innocuous SMS claiming to be from Petronas, stating that the recipient had won $20,000.
And to claim their "prize", recipients were told to transfer money to a bank account to process the transfer of the cash prize.
Another similar SMS, claiming to be from Coca Cola, has also been circulating for the past two months.
Coca Cola Singapore has sent out a consumer advisory warning the public of such a scam.
A police spokesman said that since June, they have received five police reports on such scams. They also sent out a crime alert in August warning the public against falling prey to them.
