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Elderly Singapore woman ‘distraught’ after losing life savings to 'DHL' scam
A 67-year-old retiree’s son tells Channel NewsAsia how his mother was cheated of a hard-earned S$25,000 in one of a series of scams which have seen victims robbed of a total of S$4 million.
SINGAPORE: It started with the caller having information about her - full name, birthdate, passport number, whereabouts and even the exact amount of money in her bank accounts. That was how Mdm Tan ended up losing S$25,000 of her life savings to a phone scammer, as her son Mr Tan (not their real names, which have been withheld for privacy) explained to Channel NewsAsia on Thursday (Jun 9).
On Wednesday, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said that in the last three months, it has received over 50 reports of scammers impersonating officials or courier companies and cheating victims of S$4 million in total. One such company, DHL, warned the public back in April that scammers were masquerading as their staff to phish for information, typically by informing victims that parcels had been shipped in their names.
This was exactly what happened to retiree Mdm Tan, who was contacted on May 29 by a Chinese-speaking male claiming to work for DHL. He told the 67-year-old woman that a parcel she sent on May 18 from Changi Airport to Shanghai contained more than 20 illegal credit cards and had been confiscated by Chinese customs.
“My mother was shocked ... as she was indeed at Changi Airport on or about that date to send me off to Shanghai,” said Mr Tan, a 40-year-old Singaporean working in China who is also the writer behind Facebook page Respect Singapore.
The caller then continued his elaborate tale by alleging that Mdm Tan was involved in money laundering with a certain Wang Chen Ming, detained in China for having over 30 illegal credit cards, with one such card linked to a bank account under her name. Mdm Tan then received images on her phone of a Chinese “arrest warrant” containing her personal details. Again, she was “stunned” by such knowledge “and the apparent authenticity” of the warrant, said her son.
The caller then told Mdm Tan she would be brought to China and detained unless she contacted him once every four hours “for reporting purposes” and kept the entire affair secret, “failing which her family and her would be arrested”, said Mr Tan.
A day later the caller instructed Mdm Tan to withdraw S$20,000 from one of her bank accounts to transfer to a “so-called company account”. The following day, on May 31, she was asked to withdraw S$7,000 from another of her accounts and transfer S$5,000 to the same company, this time via the opening of a Bank of China account in Singapore. Mr Tan said this knowledge of the precise sums in her accounts “startled” his mother, who was informed “that this was needed to check if her funds were being laundered and if all goes well, the $25,000 would be returned to the Bank of China account she opened”.
The scammer then stopped responding to Mdm Tan after they last corresponded in the evening of Jun 1. And that, said Mr Tan, was how his mother’s life savings were “almost entirely wiped out”.
PIONEER GENERATION AT RISK?
According to Mr Tan, his mother was scammed due to her age, lack of higher education, Chinese-speaking background and lack of knowledge on matters such as money laundering.
“She is not alone,” he said. “She is one of many of her kind in Singapore; poorly-educated, Chinese-speaking, elderly retirees from our Pioneer Generation.”
“I had warned her several times about phone scams in the past. However, it doesn’t register as well with her due to her age, and she was also unprepared for the myriad forms that such scams can take,” Mr Tan added.
Yet the nightmare is not over for his mother, as he explained: “She is distraught. She berates herself for her own foolishness. She is distressed at the loss of her life savings, which were painstakingly accumulated from a lifetime of work as a night-shift operator and a convenience store cashier to support our family.”
NO LUCK WITH INVESTIGATION
Mr Tan also said his attempts to work with the authorities involved in his mother’s situation appear to have made limited progress.
“I approached the police here in China, but they said they would not allow me to lodge a police report as they claimed the crime occurred overseas - even though I argued the fraudster and his bank account are in Beijing,” he said. “They said they would only act on a request by the Singapore police made through Interpol to them, which would take about two weeks to process.”
Mr Tan also went to the Bank of China, who helped confirmed the money was received in the account but almost immediately transferred out thereafter.
“They have since flagged the account as “high-risk” but are unable to freeze the account unless there is a police or court order. They also said it is pointless to freeze the account as there is only a small amount of money in it now,” he explained. “They further said they have detailed information - such as the account holder’s personal details, remittance and transfer records, CCTV records of transfers and ATM activity et cetera - that could help in the investigation, but could not release the same without a police or court order.”
Mr Tan remains determined to seek redress for his mother, stating that he “will not leave out any options”. But his family is also focused on getting their mother past her ordeal. “We are helping her to forget and recover, and are regularly monitoring her condition,” he said.
A 67-year-old retiree’s son tells Channel NewsAsia how his mother was cheated of a hard-earned S$25,000 in one of a series of scams which have seen victims robbed of a total of S$4 million.
SINGAPORE: It started with the caller having information about her - full name, birthdate, passport number, whereabouts and even the exact amount of money in her bank accounts. That was how Mdm Tan ended up losing S$25,000 of her life savings to a phone scammer, as her son Mr Tan (not their real names, which have been withheld for privacy) explained to Channel NewsAsia on Thursday (Jun 9).
On Wednesday, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said that in the last three months, it has received over 50 reports of scammers impersonating officials or courier companies and cheating victims of S$4 million in total. One such company, DHL, warned the public back in April that scammers were masquerading as their staff to phish for information, typically by informing victims that parcels had been shipped in their names.
This was exactly what happened to retiree Mdm Tan, who was contacted on May 29 by a Chinese-speaking male claiming to work for DHL. He told the 67-year-old woman that a parcel she sent on May 18 from Changi Airport to Shanghai contained more than 20 illegal credit cards and had been confiscated by Chinese customs.
“My mother was shocked ... as she was indeed at Changi Airport on or about that date to send me off to Shanghai,” said Mr Tan, a 40-year-old Singaporean working in China who is also the writer behind Facebook page Respect Singapore.
The caller then continued his elaborate tale by alleging that Mdm Tan was involved in money laundering with a certain Wang Chen Ming, detained in China for having over 30 illegal credit cards, with one such card linked to a bank account under her name. Mdm Tan then received images on her phone of a Chinese “arrest warrant” containing her personal details. Again, she was “stunned” by such knowledge “and the apparent authenticity” of the warrant, said her son.
The caller then told Mdm Tan she would be brought to China and detained unless she contacted him once every four hours “for reporting purposes” and kept the entire affair secret, “failing which her family and her would be arrested”, said Mr Tan.
A day later the caller instructed Mdm Tan to withdraw S$20,000 from one of her bank accounts to transfer to a “so-called company account”. The following day, on May 31, she was asked to withdraw S$7,000 from another of her accounts and transfer S$5,000 to the same company, this time via the opening of a Bank of China account in Singapore. Mr Tan said this knowledge of the precise sums in her accounts “startled” his mother, who was informed “that this was needed to check if her funds were being laundered and if all goes well, the $25,000 would be returned to the Bank of China account she opened”.
The scammer then stopped responding to Mdm Tan after they last corresponded in the evening of Jun 1. And that, said Mr Tan, was how his mother’s life savings were “almost entirely wiped out”.
PIONEER GENERATION AT RISK?
According to Mr Tan, his mother was scammed due to her age, lack of higher education, Chinese-speaking background and lack of knowledge on matters such as money laundering.
“She is not alone,” he said. “She is one of many of her kind in Singapore; poorly-educated, Chinese-speaking, elderly retirees from our Pioneer Generation.”
“I had warned her several times about phone scams in the past. However, it doesn’t register as well with her due to her age, and she was also unprepared for the myriad forms that such scams can take,” Mr Tan added.
Yet the nightmare is not over for his mother, as he explained: “She is distraught. She berates herself for her own foolishness. She is distressed at the loss of her life savings, which were painstakingly accumulated from a lifetime of work as a night-shift operator and a convenience store cashier to support our family.”
NO LUCK WITH INVESTIGATION
Mr Tan also said his attempts to work with the authorities involved in his mother’s situation appear to have made limited progress.
“I approached the police here in China, but they said they would not allow me to lodge a police report as they claimed the crime occurred overseas - even though I argued the fraudster and his bank account are in Beijing,” he said. “They said they would only act on a request by the Singapore police made through Interpol to them, which would take about two weeks to process.”
Mr Tan also went to the Bank of China, who helped confirmed the money was received in the account but almost immediately transferred out thereafter.
“They have since flagged the account as “high-risk” but are unable to freeze the account unless there is a police or court order. They also said it is pointless to freeze the account as there is only a small amount of money in it now,” he explained. “They further said they have detailed information - such as the account holder’s personal details, remittance and transfer records, CCTV records of transfers and ATM activity et cetera - that could help in the investigation, but could not release the same without a police or court order.”
Mr Tan remains determined to seek redress for his mother, stating that he “will not leave out any options”. But his family is also focused on getting their mother past her ordeal. “We are helping her to forget and recover, and are regularly monitoring her condition,” he said.
