I never thought a random Tuesday night in Tanjong Pagar would turn into the most stressful — and weirdly profitable — experience of my life.
So I was doing my usual routine, grinding some freelance work on my laptop at a café, trying to boost my side income because, you know, Singapore cost of living no joke. Around 9pm, this ang moh guy walks in, clearly drunk, sits opposite me without asking, and starts talking about “losing everything in crypto”.
At first I thought he just needed to vent, but then he suddenly asks if I know anything about “recovering digital wallets”. Bro, I work IT infrastructure, not some cybersecurity hacker-for-hire. But he kept insisting he had “millions stuck” and would pay anyone who could help.
I told him straight I cannot do anything illegal, later kena police then GG. But he pulled out his phone and showed me what looked like a legit crypto wallet dashboard. Whether real or not, I don’t know, but the numbers were insane.
Then here’s where things get wild.
He offered me S$5,000 on the spot just to “help him try”. I swear my brain split into two: one side thinking about financial freedom, passive income, early retirement… the other side thinking “bro this is how people end up in CNA headline”.
I rejected him politely and packed up. But as I was leaving, he transferred S$500 to my PayNow anyway, saying it was for “listening”.
Now I’m sitting here wondering if I should report this, return the money, or just treat it as the most random side hustle ever.
Singapore really got all kinds of people sia. One minute you’re worrying about your electricity bill, next minute some stranger tries to drag you into a crypto recovery scheme.
Anyone else kena something like this before or is this some new scam trend?