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Woman scammed by ‘sincere’ online lover
Lina Chan
He first sent her a message on Facebook asking for her email and contact number. However, she refused and he stopped messaging her. A few months later, he contacted her again. But while Nora conversed with him, she again refused to reveal her contact details.
Henry claimed to be a German in his 50s and working in the U.S. He said that his wife had passed away and left behind a 10-year-old daughter. They message each other over facebook for a few days and after two weeks, Nora began to trust him, as she thought he was sincere person looking to start a new relationship.
She said, "Because he never pushed me for information. I believed he was sincere." Aside from conversing on the internet, the duo also talked on the phone numerous times. Henry told Nora that his daughter, Lisa, was taken care of by his elderly mother in Berlin and also convinced her that he wanted someone to "care for his daughter" .
He then asked her to fly to the US to meet him and that he would pay for her plane ticket. She agreed, but a day later, Henry had a change of plans. Henry said that he would fly to Berlin to pick Lisa up before flying down to Singapore to meet Nora and ask for her to marry him. On the day Henry was supposed to arrive in Singapore, Nora went to the airport to meet him.
However, Henry did not show up. Instead, Nora received a call from an immigration officer asking her to transfer $3,500 to a POSB account. The caller told her that Henry was detained for carrying too much money into Singapore. Henry also spoke to her through the phone, asking Nora to pay on his behalf first. Nora obliged and borrowed money from her niece who was working at the airport.
Nora sensed that something was amiss when the caller demanded for more money. Her niece did some checks and realised that nobody was detained at the airport. The duo then made a police report.
According to the police's annual crime briefing reported on The Straits Times, the number of Internet dating scams has tripled from last year. This is the biggest increase since such incidents were first reported in 2008.
