A 62-year-old cleaner, Zhang Han Cheng, lost $330,000 of the life savings that he had painstakingly saved over 50 years, to scammers impersonating the China police, according to Shin Min Daily News.
Speaking to SMDN, Zhang said that he received a call from the scammer who claimed to be from the Shanghai police.
He was told by the scammer that he was involved in a money laundering operation in China and advised to cooperate with the “investigation”.
The scammer then told him to create a new bank account and transfer money into it so that they can check if the money was “clean”.
Zhang had never been to Shanghai or had a bank account there, but the “Shanghai police” knew his address and personal information, which had him sold on the ruse.
He was convicted that he was in trouble with the law after receiving fake letters that claim to be from the authorities in China.
He then visited the bank and transferred $60k to the scammer, along with his bank account’s OTP.
He later realised that he had been scammed when he was trying to withdraw money for his living expenses and saw that he was left with only $49.
According to his bank statement, the scammer had taken out $15,000 on 15 November, before wiping out the remainder of his life savings via 7 more bank transfers on 23 November last year.
His elder brother then notified the bank about what happened because Zhang couldn’t speak English, hoping that the money would be returned to him.
However, the bank told Zhang earlier this year that he would not be receiving compensation and that his appeal was unsuccessful.
The Singapore Police Force also added that they are investigating the case.