Greed always appears to be one of the main reasons why people lose money on the internet, the worse part is it is often combined with photos of either handsome guys or pretty girls.

A netizen posted online of how she lost $4,000 after she was catfished by a “man” on the internet after getting catfished.

Here is the story:

Connected with ‘Hayden’ (Taiwanese who has worked in HK before and is working in SG now) on the Hinge app in early Dec. We moved to Telegram on the same day and he deleted his profile the next day (RF). We talked on Telegram for 2 weeks, in English and Chinese, before he introduced me to the fake/spoofed crypto trading website. I brought up the topic of meeting physically and/or video call but he would declined by saying that he wants to take it slow/changed the topic(RF).

I caught him using fake photos(catfish!) and info since his words often didn’t match his Hinge profile (RF). He admitted it and told me he has trust issues with people because of his broken family and experiences and I was dumb to accept it for that hit my sore spot.

We temporarily ended the convo in Week 3, but he still Telegram me a few days later to ‘invest’ again. I trusted his “investment advice” because of his financially savvy image portrayed during our investment discussion.

Some other Red Flags(RF) about the platform:
1) Weird weblinks (ending with .xyz) that was changed every few days. One of them even triggered Chrome to show that it is a phishing website.
2) The mobile app by “Oriental Wealth”, a fake company with fake logo. User interface quite suspicious with broken English and invalid webpages(e.g. user agreement page).
3) Informed by “Customer Service” (CS) on Whatsapp(HK#) to transfer money to some personal bank accounts (most likely job scam victims), which changed whenever I deposited into the “trading account”.

4) Platform has options to ‘invest’ in 60s(min.$100HKD), 120s($1000HKD) and 12hrs settings. Longer period need more capital($) and can generate more ‘profit’(Online betting!!!)

5) He will ‘analyse’ the BTC chart and calculate the amount($) for me to key in into the website/app (buy long/short) for each ‘trade’, based on his special algorithm.
I started with $500SGD and $2000SGD with the 60s setting for the first 2 tries and got back the capital with the ‘profits’ in my bank account by the next day.
I pumped in $4kSGD next and ‘traded’ a few rounds and stopped when he said the “market was volatile”. Those few rounds didn’t “meet the minimum transaction volume” and they didn’t approve my withdrawal request.

I told him about it, and he persuaded met to try the 120s option to get more profit. Since he will “cover” the additional $6kSGD by informing the CS that he topped up the “trading ID”, I relented. This time, the profits ballooned to around $30kSGD.

I checked with CS a few days later when the money wasn’t in and they directed me to ‘service department”, whom informed me that my account was frozen due to the large foreign transaction and need to pay 15% of the withdrawal amount in 10 days or forfeit that $(profit+capital)(RF). I checked online (scamalert website etc) and finally accepted that I’ve been scammed.

So, please don’t be greedy and do your research first!!!

I started a new job today after 6 months of being unemployed. I took this job (customer service) cos I wanted something mindless and normal working hours so I don’t miss lessons as I’m studying part time at night and graduating soon.

The job turns out to be mind numbing boring to death. I have to travel for an hour one way, sit in a classroom for 10hours each day for lectures and then travel 1 hour home and then go back home to listen to 3 more hours of lecture and repeat the next day. I also need to sit for some tests at the end of the week for work while I have pending assignments for school and I’m graduating soon in March.

The trainer is unprofessional, speaks broken English and makes terrible jokes. He is part of the reason I am asking myself life is too short to be stuck with this?

Seems like I have made a mistake. I should most probably not signed up for this full time job and just wait till I graduated but I overestimated myself.

Is there any way that I can quit this job without serving its 2 weeks notice period? Isn’t it weird for me to show up to learn when I would be out of the company by end of 2 weeks esp if the info given can be considered sensitive.

Here are what netizens think:

• U did say u wanted to do something “mindless” as stated in para 1 right? So u got it. Be careful what u wish for.Btw, my thoughts are that a customer service job isn’t actually as mindless as u think. It often requires a myriad of skill sets. Also, regarding the trainer with “broken english n terrible jokes”, maybe u need to be a bigger person n see beyond that. Don’t discount someone just because he or she isn’t eloquent like how we (society) like it. Sounds like u think u are too good to be taught by him/her. Just focus on what the trainer is trying to impart lah. If u can’t even tahan the trainer, you won’t be able to tahan the many types of personalities you will encounter in society in future.

• when people is having a good life, what did they do, complain and whine. this is what we called jia ba bo sia pang, meaning: eat full already go nothing to shit. some people just do not understand the meaning of gratitude. be grateful with what you have.

• If you want to leave immediately, you would need to compensate to the company the salary in lieu of notice (2 weeks), which is not worth it. Unless the company is willing to waive.You can resign ASAP and serve your notice. If you worked less than 3 months with the company, MC taken is considered as unpaid leave. Ask whether they can release you earlier.

To anyone that’s reading this, never hesitate to tell your loved ones/your crush that you love them because you might not know if they will still be around.

I met this guy through my friend where they were talking about relationships and that was when my friend introduced me to him. At that moment, he saw my photo and chose me over the girls that were with full-on make-up. He was so excited to meet me where we eventually met.

Although it was our first time meeting, our convo naturally flowed and I realized that he’s a nice guy to talk to. At the end, we exchanged number and after parting ways, he asked me out on the 2nd date during Christmas.

I always wanted to look for a serious r/s (have been single for all my life) and I knew that this guy would be a gem so that was when I decided to think about us more seriously. No doubt there were worries and that’s why I decided to be open about my feelings. He was so understanding, he reassured me and he told me he wanted to continue seeing me.

As I’m one that would realize my feelings slower, I didn’t realized that I actually do like him by the 3rd time we met. I know you will probably say I’m a fool for being so quick to fall in love, but now I feel more like a fool for not realizing my feelings earlier when he showed all signs of interest in me.

After the 3rd time that we met, he got busy with his work when the new year came. That was when things changed. Just over 1 night, he ended things with me although we’re still at the friends stage.

But why?

When I read that I’m not someone that he’s looking for, my heart literally sank. What about all the times when you said I was different? What about all the times where you told me about the things that you wanted to do with me?

My wound now is so raw, it hurts so freaking much as though I just been through a break up. What’s worse was that I have been dreaming about him for 3 days straight, and all of them were scenes of us being so happily together.

Every time when I wake up, I honestly wish that this was all a dream.

I have no idea why things could just change overnight like this and I just want an answer to my endless questions.

If anyone is feeling this, just know that you’re not looking for a closure. You just want another chance to change what happened, hoping that he would come back.

To anyone that’s chasing after your crush, tell them that you love them today. I know it’s scary but just take the chance while you could. You never know if someone will be gone the next day.