A Netizen shared his story online about how he got scammed by someone online.
He was looking for a investment loan of $25k and used google to find one. He then selected the first page and started contacting a person named Donald in the webpage.
Donald then allegedly asked him to make an instalment payment of 778 before he could provide the loan. An hour later Donald then asked him to make a second payment of $2500.
While he was making a delivery, the Netizen complied and transferred 2 times to the company as he thought that since it was legal, there wouldn’t be a problem.
Another hour later, they used another phone number to contact him and asked him to make another payment. The netizen then got a heated exchange with them and decline to make the third payment.
The netizen then made a police report and contacted the bank after he finished his delivery.
Here is his story…
“I am sharing this incident of mine with others to serve as a warning so others would avoid facing the same scenario as me.I was looking for an investment loan of $25k and I decided to try a legal money lender as they would be reputable and as I would have been a sincere customer, there would not have been any problem.On 25 May as I was searching for legal moneylender on Google, I clicked on the first link and was directed to a page https://galaxyfinances.net/.
I then contacted the number given in the webpage which was 81918410.A man named Donald who sounded like a local Singaporean responded to me. I sent him my documents for processing and He replied that he would process the loan at 4% and assured me that there wouldn’t be any fee arising.‘Donald’ then contacted me on 26 May 2021 and told me to make the first instalment payment of $778 before he could disburse out the loan.
He even sent an invoice that with a name that was similar to an actual registered credit company and with an actual license number. One hour later, Donald asked me to make another payment of $2500 for a refundable immediate transfer fee. As I was riding on the road delivering food, I wasn’t able to think very well. I was given the impression that since it was legal then it shouldn’t be much of a problem. So I made the transfer.
Another hour later, Donald asked me to make another payment of $2500. I called him immediately and told him that i was not going to make the payment. He then said that he could mark the loan as pending. I told him that there is no way that I would make the payment and said that it sounded like a scam.Shortly after, they used a landline with the number 6950200 to call me. Telling me that I was almost getting the money if I make the third payment.
We had some heated exchange and I rejected their request.I then asked if i could cancel off by forfeiting the $778. He said no. He told me to transfer him $2500 then he would return $2500 + $778.I made a police report and called the bank after i finished delivery.
I then decided to do a search and realised that 1) The name Galaxy Financing is similar to an actual legitimate company named Galaxy Credit.2) The Tel number 69500200 used to call me was actually used for two other pages; https://1st-credit-lending.com/, https://prosper-credit-holdings.com. Both sites have been shut down.3) Tel number 69500200 can also be linked to a company called Prosper Credit Pte Ltd. Prosper credit was a legitimate company but it has no website. (I am not implying that Prosper Credit Pte LTD is the one who made the call.
All I can say is I received a call from this number. And we spoke for 8 mins as according to the call log.)4) A hp number on 1st credit lending.com can be linked to another prosper credit website https://prosper-credit-limited.com/, which was also closed down. 5) All four webpages were registered with http://www.tucows.com . I must share this story, despite of the danger that I am implicating myself. It is because I strongly believe that the culprit(s) must have taken victims of many and many-to-be. I was even taunted by the scammer and telling me that he would use money to go for a massage and drink.
I hope my experience and losses will be a good reminder that even with the regulation from MAS, it still depends on who is the one running the business. Reporting police, to me, was more of a formality. Just in case they decide to do harm to my family, the police may know who were probably the one responsible. This is because at the time of writing, ‘Donald’ was still online in his whatsapp chat. Alas, evil prevails. Otherwise how does he, a cheat, gets to live in a condo?As for me, I just had to work additional 500 hours of delivery to get my losses back.
I have attached my police report and the screenshots of his last message in this post. Remember not to be as stupid as me. Stay safe everyone.P.S. Hey Adrian, have fun drinking at Flora drive. Say hello to Tze Karn. Now we both know where we live so do not try anything funny to my family. Guess if you can sue your own wife to high court, then there is pretty much nothing you can’t do. I told you to return me $2500 and we call it even but you decide to drag this thing till it is a police case.
Hope you will start covering up your trackmarks so you can keep your one million dollar deposit.Edit: I have included one photo in which they used other company license and similar name to trick potential customers.”