Woman scammed of S$40,200 by fake online romeo

SINGAPORE — After befriending a man who appeared to be a Caucasian on Facebook and spending time communicating with him, Jenny (not her real name), who is in her 50s, fell head over heels with the person, who went by the name “J Carl”.

So enamoured was Jenny with J Carl that when he poured out his woes of financial hardship to her, she sold shares — to the tune of S$40,200 — to help him. By August last year, Jenny’s older sister Mary (also not her real name) caught wind of the virtual relationship. Jenny had also told Mary, 60, that J Carl would be visiting her in Singapore, but that meeting did not come to fruition. 

Mary grew suspicious after learning that her sister was instructed to remit money to various Malaysian bank accounts, all of which belonged to strangers.

Her warnings fell on deaf ears because Jenny was smitten by her online lover. It took much persuasion from Mary before Jenny sought help from the police, and came to terms that she had been cheated.

Jenny’s case is among the rising number of Internet love scams the police flagged as a concern on Friday (Feb 10) at their annual crime brief for 2016. The number of such cases reported shot up from 385 in 2015 to 636 last year, and involved S$24 million, twice the amount from the year before.

To prevent Internet love scams, the police advised the public to exercise caution when one makes friends online, and not to send money to those they are not familiar with.

“Be in control of your emotions and meet all requests for money with a cool head, knowing that it may be a scam,” the police said. Those in doubt should also call the police’s anti-scam helpline at 1800 722 6688.