SINGAPORE — From the moment 19-year-old John (not his real name), scrolled through the young woman’s Tinder profile, something seemed a little off.

While most girls would list out their hobbies or qualities they like in a man on the dating app, the woman, whom John described as a 21-year-old, did not include much about herself, save for her details on the WeChat messaging app. 

But as he had some free time, John, a student, thought no more of it and added her to his WeChat contacts — only to discover later that he had fallen victim to a credit-for-sex scam. More than 200 similar cases had been reported to the police between January and April this year.

In a phone interview with reporters last week, John said they started chatting, but despite his attempts to get to know her better, the woman would steer the conversation towards sex.

She told him she was ready to have sex with him — if John would buy her a S$100 iTunes card.

When he agreed, she told him to follow the instructions of a male friend. After getting a phone call from the man, John hurried to the nearest 7-Eleven store but bought the wrong card. Thinking that the whole affair was getting too troublesome, John tried to call off his meeting with the girl, but the man threatened to track him down.

Afraid of the man’s threat, John raced home to get another S$100 to buy the iTunes card. It was only when a 7-Eleven staff handed John an advisory on scams that the young man realised that he had fallen prey to a credit-for-sex scam. “I’d heard about sex scams before, but at that time, I didn’t (realise it) … I felt very silly,” said John in Mandarin.

Still, John could consider himself one of the luckier ones, since another victim of a similar scam lost close to S$24,800, said the Singapore Police Force (SPF).

Victims of the more than 200 credit-for-sex scams reported in the first four months of this year were cheated of at least S$422,200. More than 400 cases involving similar scams were reported to the police in the same period last year.

Targeted at Chinese males between 20 and 39 years old, the scams involve women befriending them through social messaging apps such as WeChat, and offering sexual services in exchange for online credit. 

To secure such meet-ups, victims buy cards in bulk, or buy in succession within a span of a few hours, but they never get to meet the women.

“Scammers use different ways such as enticement, threats … it’s like fishing. They prey on the natural urges of the (victims) ... so (the victims) undergo different levels of hell,” said Station Inspector Gabriel Lee, 35, from the Yishun North Neighbourhood Police Centre (NPC).

To deter such scams, the Yishun North NPC team, as part of their community initiatives, swung into action last September, putting up posters with eye-catching visuals and sending officers to identify prime spots where such scammers strike.

Noting that it is difficult to identify the “hot hours” — the scams could take place anytime during lunch hour or after 9pm — the team took the extra step of roping in staff at several 7-Eleven outlets to be their eyes on the ground. 

One of them is store manager Madam Rosida Arshad, 47, who noticed customers visiting her store thrice a day, or buying five or six cards at one go. She was also the one who helped warn John about the scam.

“My (night shift) staff would tell me about customers roaming around outside, looking angry, and then later they ask us for a refund … From there, we knew they were (being) scammed,” she said, adding that customers sometimes ignored the police advisory that was passed to them.

Sergeant (NS) Samuel Lee, a 30-year-old police national servicemen, was one of those who were stationed outside 7-Eleven or Cheers outlets to hand out flyers, and spot potential victims.

Tell-tale signs include victims talking on their phones, looking unsure, and frequently re-entering the shop on the same day.

Sgt Lee noted that victims of such scams are reluctant to come forward because they are embarrassed, or for fear of implicating their own families.

Despite his experience, John is still willing to befriend women on social apps, such as WeChat and Tinder. 

“But I won’t be so quick to believe them … I’ll need to make sure they are real people first,” he said.