A woman emptied nearly $80K of her savings to a man she thought was Taiwanese singer and host Fei Yu-ching.
Here’s what you need to know.
A 70-year-old Woman Falls into Love Scam with Fake Fei Yu-Ching
Love scams have been surging recently, and these tragic Singapore love stories, unfortunately, don’t seem to be ending anytime soon.
If you’re not sure what’s a love scam, fret not. Goody Feed’s got your back. Watch this video to find out the workings of a love scam in Singapore:
So how exactly did this particular love scam happen?
It all begins with a 70-year-old woman and so to speak, the Taiwanese singer, Fei Yu-ching.
In August last year, 70-year-old Huang Xiulian (hanyu pinyin) suddenly received a text message from a man claiming to be Fei Yu-ching.
Ms Huang had just been diagnosed with terminal breast cancer and started chemotherapy and medication. At a time like this, you could understand why the 70-year-old thought this was her silver lining.
The pair started to talk online quite a bit before the fake Fei Yu-ching professed his love for Ms Huang and said he wanted to come to Singapore to meet her. Believing what he said to be accurate, Ms Huang agreed to begin a romantic relationship with him.
From celebrity crush to lovers—now that could be a Wattpad story.
The relationship appeared to be sweet thus far, at least to Ms Huang. Unfortunately, nothing good lasts forever.
Scammer Took A Total of Nearly $80K from 70-year-old Victim
Thought your partner was a gold digger? Well, the fake Fei Yu-ching brings it to another level.
Ms Huang, being blinded by love, had nearly $80K taken away by the scammer and she didn’t find out until it was too late.
The 70-year-old opened a new bank account at “Fei Yu-ching’s” request and gave the account information and PIN of the new bank account to her latest lover.
She also closed her other bank accounts and transferred more than $20K to the new account.
At this point, it’s got to be rags to riches for the fake Fei Yu-ching. Regardless, the scammer wasn’t satisfied just yet.
$12K Needed to Pick Up a Package Containing Cash and Gold Bars Meant for 70-year-old
The scammer claimed he needed to borrow $12K from Ms Huang as a package containing cash and gold bars he intended to deliver to her was stuck at the Singapore checkpoints.
He claimed that $12K was needed to pick up the package, but he couldn’t pay for it because his bank account was frozen.
If his bank account was frozen, now we all know why.
Ms Huang did as he said and transferred the $12K to him.
The only thing going “Qian Li Zhi Wai” here is Ms Huang’s money.
Later, Ms Huang discovered that her new lover had taken more than $11,934 away from her new bank account in late September.
Her efforts in urging “Fei Yu-ching” to return her the money were to no avail. Instead, he repeatedly reassured her of his love for her and claimed he was far from being greedy for her money.
Not only did Ms Huang accept his explanation, she then transferred him another $10K to pay for another package.
Ah, the 1st stage of grief: shock and denial.
Nearly $60K From Expired Insurance Policies Taken by Scammer
If you thought that was it, it isn’t.
Afterwards, when Ms Huang’s two insurance policies expired, she transferred nearly $60K into her bank account.
Guess what happens next? You’re right; the money disappeared the next day.
Guess it was another excellent day at the office for the scammer.
All that Glitters is Not Gold: A Lesson Learnt the Hard Way
Realising that all the money in her bank account had disappeared, she questioned her supposed lover about it.
However, as the Gen Zs would say these days, Ms Huang got ghosted. Her dearest “Fei Yu-ching” did not respond to her at all.
Upon going to the bank to inquire about her situation, Ms Huang discovered she had been scammed by who she thought was her lover the entire time.
The 70-year-old subsequently came clean to her sister about what happened before lodging a report with the police.
She learnt the hard way that not all that glitters is gold.
It’s no secret that scams have been on the rise in Singapore. While a handful of Singaporeans find it hard to believe that such scams are difficult to detect, it remains that many still find it challenging to detect scams.
Most of us are no strangers to those WhatsApp or Telegram soccer betting and investment scams. We also saw various luxury goods scams, such as the Tradenation scam last year. And who can forget about when a woman got scammed of $21K after believing in a cheap cleaning ad on Facebook?
The point is this: with the rise of scams in Singapore, we need to learn to protect ourselves against scams and become more vigilant against scams.
While measures like the ScamShield Bot are already being rolled out by the authorities to aid in the fight against scams, people like you and me still have to learn how to spot and avoid a scam—the government can’t always be there to help everyone.
The best way to spot a scam is to know that these scammers will always ask you for something—money, your bank account information, your credit card details etc.
And yes, even if it’s a retired star that you’re a fan of, you should probably start getting suspicious if he’s asking for your bank details.
Stay safe and alert.