In the old days, scams involving Rolex watches usually went something like this.
A guy on the street would come up to you offering to sell a brand new Rolex watch at an incredibly cheap price.
Stunned by the luxuriousness of the watch and the affordability of the deal, you whip out your wallet within a few seconds.
You give the guy the money, he gives you the watch and everyone’s happy. Or so it seems.
An hour later, when you’re checking your brand new watch for the time, you realise that the watch actually says “Relax”, and may not have been worth the few hundred you paid for it.
Only dumb people would fall for such a scam, you say.
But this new scam may be a little tougher to see through.
36YO Man Scams E-Scooters Using a Fake Rolex Watch Multiple Times
The scammer’s modus operandi was simple: he’d offer to buy an e-scooter online, ask for a test ride by offering his “Rolex” watch as collateral, then run away with the device.
The first incident occurred on 19 Jan, when the scammer offered to buy a S$3,000 e-scooter listed for sale on Carousell.
Since the seller couldn’t leave his house that day, he asked his 16-year-old friend to carry out the exchange for him. The friend brought along three other friends when they met the purported buyer at a playground in Punggol Drive.
There, the scammer introduced himself as a loan shark and reportedly said “money was not a problem”. He was wearing a gold chain and gold Rolex watch at the time.
The man said he wanted to take the scooter for a “test ride”, and left his Rolex watch with the three teens as collateral, claiming it was worth S$13,800.
But of course, the Rolex was fake, and the man never returned with the e-scooter.
When they contacted the buyer online, he said he did not want to speak to anyone on the platform and was on his way to the police station.
Hi officer, I’d like to report a thief – me.
Just a day earlier, the man had tried the same trick on another seller, except things didn’t go as planned that time.
Offering to buy an S$800 e-scooter on Carousell, the scammer agreed to pay the 17-year-old seller a S$20 deposit as well as his taxi fare.
When they met, he asked for a “test ride” but the seller refused, worried that he would steal the scooter.
The scammer initially tried reassuring the seller that he wouldn’t do such a thing, but eventually said he didn’t want to go through with the deal.
Even though the seller refunded the S$20 deposit, the scammer denied having received it even after the seller showed proof on his phone.
The scammer also threw a fit and struck the seller twice on his face.
Jailed for 6 Months
Unfortunately for him, the seller he scammed the next day reported him to the police, and officers arrested him on the same day.
The 36-year-old was found guilty of stealing and attempting to steal e-scooters from three Carousell sellers on three separate occasions.
He was sentenced to six months imprisonment for his offences. An extra day was added to his sentence as he had failed to reimburse a medical bill of S$121.
Unless it’s in a store or held by CEO Jean-Frederic Dufour, don’t ever trust a dude with a Rolex on the street. It just never ends well.
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