Facebook user Raymond Teo recently took to Facebook on how he was scammed by a friend who promised him a 25% return on a $2,000 investment. He stated on how this guy actually tried to scam his own girlfriend together with her family as well.
Here is the full story.
This is intended to spread awareness of his scams and evil deeds. I am aware that by posting this, a lot of negative comments like why I so dumb, why I lend him and such. Too bad im a victim of his scams and I hope someone you know wouldn’t be the next. Which is why I’m getting this out in hopes that no one else would get conned by him.
It all start on Feb 2016 where this Joel approached me for an “Investment” to his company (SOURCE THINGS, UEN: 53315744K) which he had set up but status in ACRA website is found to be cancelled. The company address was tied to his Home in Chai Chee. He promised a min of 25% return within a month which was a huge red flag for any form of investment as no investments would promise such returns. I knew him since 2007 where we both studied in Temasek Polytechnic and went for internship at OCBC together. The reason why I believed and trusted him so much was that we both partnered to perform as mascots for OCBC back then and he was handling a significant amount and did not ran. When he got married with his then Thai gf, I and another of his friend was one of the witness as his parents opposed to him getting married.
Common plotlines:
– Investment in his company for import and export of mobile phones
– Partnership to open a mobile phone shop
– 3W clinic products- Game accounts (Example: Maple)
– Gaming products (Example: Nintendo switch games)
– PC Parts Common targets:
– Friends and family
– New colleagues or friends known through mutual friends
– Thai or Filipino (Joel is fluent in Thai and Tagalog) Common excuses:
– Phone lost and have to use emulator on laptop to communicate
– Facebook or Wechat not working
– Internet on phone intermittently not working
– House no wifi- Seldom go back office so no wifi to reply
– Give false hope like able to loan from friends or bank soon
– Creating multiple personas, acting as his friend or gf to contact you
– Usage of Private numbers and multiple Pre-Paid sim cards
– Whatsapp wipe all contacts and conversations
– Work gave him cheque so need wait for bank in but disappear after
– No iBanking
– He message you already but message stuck
– Off last seen and claims he never receive your message
Common names used:
– Alicia
– Ricard
– Damien or DD
– Jay
Since Feb 2016, he constantly approached me on and off stating that he is short of a certain amount like 1.7kK and stuff to which I didn’t reply much to. After which, he promised a min of 30% return or at times, 15% returns. So this went on for the next 2 months which he claims he is still staying in Chai Chee and meanwhile I Googled for his name and found out he pulled a fast one on others using the RWS hotel room scam which seem to have subsided. He claims that back then he was the middle man and was scammed too and wouldn’t harm friends.
Apr 2016I met him and passed him $6,000 in cash and we both signed an agreement and he sent an electronic version, where at the bottom, he stated no signature is required and that my investment amount was $9,000.
May 2016 to Jun 2016-No payment to me and he said he was in Indonesia and Philippines. He asked for my account number and didn’t transfer. He then claims that he would transfer me returns for May and June in end of June 2016. He claims that if he is not around, he would get someone to transfer me and on end of June, he asked for $1,500 more which he promised to return it within 2 months which I didn’t lend it to him. For the first time, I asked for payment to which he claims that he is stuck overseas and unable to transfer.
Jul 2016 to Aug 2016-We didn’t talk much and he promised to transfer within a week and didn’t. He claims that he just arrived back in Singapore and had to deposit a cheque first before being able to do so and ask if I want the payout one shot or up till date first. I informed him whichever is convenient for him as I treated him as a bro. After a week or so, he claims that all the cheques that he received have bounced and unable to pay me.
Sep 2016-This point, he starts to go MIA and blames it on lag to which he is unable to reply me. He said that he could transfer me some payouts to which he didn’t. He then blocked me on 2 Facebook accounts which he was using.
Oct 2016-Its obvious that he blocked me on Facebook as it mentioned that we are now connected. He blames that something happened on Facebook and was unable to reply me. I then tracked down his then gf and contacted her where I learnt that he was scamming his gf’s family and cousins as well. At this point, he panicked and unblocked me on Facebook and ask me to wait. He reassured me that he would go MIA again and that his phone is lost. I then asked for the full $6,000 back which he claims that he does not have sufficient money to return me now and asked me to wait. I told him whenever he is convenient and to return me the full amount by Dec 2016.
Nov 2016 to Jan 2017-He blocked me on Facebook again and switched to another platform to contact me on Wechat. I found his 3rd Facebook account and continued to chase payment which he blocked me after reading my messages. On Wechat, he claims that his phone is lost and is using an Android emulator to use Wechat to talk to me. I started to be a little aggressive in asking him and he claims that he would try to meet up soon.
Feb 2017 to Jun 2017-He claims that he would loan from bank with a personal loan to return me the money as his clients pulled a fast one on him and unable to return me for now. Excuses started to flood and that he claims he is now jobless and working part time in May 2017. I asked for his address as to where he is staying so I could find him if he were to default his payment to which he gave a random postal code with no unit number. He then said that he didn’t expect things to turn out this way and not to listen to what others are saying about him. I then asked him to borrow from his mother, siblings or friends but he claims that his mother and siblings have disowned him and friends wouldn’t lend it to him. Excuses then started to flood like his internet on his phone is not working. On 21 Jun 2017, he claims that if still no payment from him, he would meet me at least to which he didn’t. After chasing him for a long time, he finally returned me $100 out of $6,000. He kept saying that he is sincere in paying but refuses to expose his address as he claims that he is not staying in Chai Chee with his mother anymore.
Jul 2017 to Nov 2017-He claims that he found a new job but does not even have money for transport. I asked him for his work address or company name to which he refused and gave general details only. He said that he does not have wifi in the place he stays and that isn’t always working in Office as I challenged him as to why he did not reply. In Sept, he claims that a friend is willing to help him out by lending him $3,000. I asked for screenshots of his conversations with his “friend” which he was unable to provide. I then asked for his friend’s contact to which he gave me a landline number in USA and that his friend is working there where I believe this is one of his created personas. Since he said that his friend is working overseas, his friend’s wife would be handling the transfer and told me to contact his friend’s wife. The friend’s wife was using Line and she wouldn’t reply after a while and claims that her contacts and conversations were all reset and lost which I believe it’s due to him changing sim cards and is also one of his personas.
Dec 2017 to Jun 2018-He claims that his friend’s wife is reluctant and would only help him if he would get a proper job and that his payday is on the 25th of each month. I told him to take his time as restarting his life wouldn’t be easy which he took for granted and went MIA.
Jul 2018 to Aug 2019-On and off he would he come and contact me on his on as his act of good faith which literally is an act as he is a fraud whom has no intention to clear his debt. Over the course of 1 year, he would constantly change his numbers to which I have 16 of his mobile numbers and all are not working. At this point, he went complete MIA which he has not contacted me ever since and I am unable to find any trace of him.