Do you worry about scams nowadays? With so many people out to get you money, you cannot help but be wary.
Apart from scams, it would be best to keep your guard up against those who force you to buy items against your will.
Did someone say peer pressure?
An elderly woman “lost” $270 after she was forced to purchase useless items, such as jade bangles and a fridge magnet, from a street-side vendor.
The vendor refused to offer a refund when the elderly woman’s daughter confronted the vendor later.
Here is what happened.
Elderly Woman Was Forced to Buy $270 Worth of Jade and Other Items From Street-Side Vendor
Earlier this week, a Facebook user by the moniker Veralynn Tan took to the Facebook group COMPLAINT SINGAPORE to warn other netizens about an unscrupulous vendor tricking people into buying useless items.
In her post, Veralynn Tan recounted how her mother had received $300 in cash from her father to go to the polyclinic for some tests.
The mother did not use the cash to pay for the polyclinic bills as they only accepted cashless payment methods.
As a result, the user’s mother went home with the cash on hand.
The mother passed by a street vendor selling accessories as she went home. He tricked the OP’s mother into buying “fake, useless and worthless knick-knacks” totalling $270.
The OP’s mother bought a fake jade ring for $28, a fake jade bangle for $180, a fake ten thousand dollar note replica fridge magnet for $20 and a gourd keychain for $38.
The OP recounted her the man initially only asked her mother to buy the $20 fridge magnet, but when he saw the mother take out a $50 note, he asked her to buy a jade bangle and forcefully made her mother wear it.
This was despite the OP’s mother expressing pain at the street vendor’s rough gestures.
When the OP’s mother started to take out three $50 notes, she accidentally took out $250 worth of cash.
The opportunistic street vendor saw this and took all the notes from the OP’s mother, passing her the jade ring and gourd keychain.
The vendor did not provide a receipt or respond to the OP’s mother’s requests for her change.
When the OP found out about the issue, she confronted the street vendor two days later and questioned why he forced the jade bangle on her mother when she did not intend to buy anything.
The street vendor retorted that the OP’s mother wanted the items and declined to offer a refund of the $270 he took from her mother.
The OP then made a police report and made the Facebook post to warn others to be wary of this man.
The location of this street store was stated as Block 503, Tampines Central 1, outside the Singapore Pools outlet.