Mr. Huang (68 years old), a businessman operating his business operations in Ang Mo Kio, spoke to Shin Min Daily News and said that he received an advertisement on Telegram last October.
The sender claimed to be a professional investment mentor. After approximately two months of acquaintance, the mentor recommended Mr. Huang to join a natural gas company’s online platform and open an account for investment purposes.
“Between October and November last year, I transferred a total of 80,000 yuan to the account provided by the company in four separate transactions. Subsequently, I observed profits reflected in my account,” Mr. Huang disclosed.
He further disclosed that due to some recent setbacks, the “mentor” enticed him with high returns, stating that if life was not going well, it was even more important to earn more money.
According to the information documented in the police report, Mr. Huang made the final two transfers to the accounts of two users between November 21 and 30.
Unfortunately, shortly after completing the transfers, Mr. Huang discovered in early December that his bank account had been frozen.
This discovery only emerged when he attempted to utilize the accounts for other transactions.
Fortunately, he still had approximately S$59,000 remaining in the frozen accounts, but the situation proved immensely inconvenient as he required liquidity for his business operations.
Upon realizing the frozen bank accounts, Mr. Huang reached out to his “investment guru” for assistance. The individual initially claimed willingness to contact the bank on his behalf. However, by the end of December, Mr. Huang found that the “guru” had blocked him on Telegram.
Despite attempting to establish contact through their previous Telegram channel, Mr. Huang received no response. Additionally, messaging platforms proved unsuccessful in reaching them. Furthermore, the online links associated with the “investment company” were inaccessible.
Consequently, Mr. Huang lodged a police report regarding the incident. The bank requested that he submit the report and any relevant documents to the police’s Anti-Scam Centre.