Lily (not her real name) thought that she had met someone special — a man from Hong Kong who chatted her up on WhatsApp.

But the woman, along with five others from Singapore aged 30 to 60, lost over $100,000 in total after falling for the same scammer's ruse.

The scammer allegedly employed the same modus operandi to build rapport with his victims, reported Shin Min Daily News on Tuesday (Sept 5). 

In an interview with the Chinese evening daily, Lily said that like the other women, she had received a message from a man who claimed to have just arrived in Singapore. He also stated how he was informed that she would be his personal translator for his trip.

Despite being met with denials by the women, the man would invariably continue chatting with them.

Lily shared that the man introduced himself as a real estate business owner from Hong Kong, explaining that he would often come to Singapore as he has an uncle who lives here.

After establishing a warm relationship with the women through constant contact, he would then lure them with what he termed was a money-making opportunity through buying tokens on a crypto trading platform. 

After asking them to download the virtual currency platform's application, the scammer then taught them how to transfer the tokens back into a link he sent to them, reported Shin Min.

The link would take the women into another virtual trading platform where they would register for an account, and be able to use the purchased virtual currency.

Lily said that several women were encouraged to raise their investment after seeing positive returns. Another victim told Shin Min Daily News how she was duped into pumping in more cash following a $30,000 investment, after the scammer claimed that there would be a 50 per cent tax to withdraw entire amount.

Alerted to scam by crypto platform

Lily told Shin Min that although the platform was genuine, she suspected that the link sent by the scammer was not, and believed that the outcome of the investment was controlled by him.

Despite having some concerns that it could be a scam, the women brushed their reservations aside, until they were alerted to the possibility by customer service agents from the crypto platform. Lily described how the agents had reached out to them after detecting the large transacted amounts.

With the help of the crypto platform, Lily found other victims of the scam. Six of them, including Lily, made a police report on Aug 20.

"Fortunately, I was more cautious and only invested $1,000. I had an argument with the man and he transferred the money back to the crypto platform," said Lily.

While Lily was able to recover the money back, one woman lost $65,000. Lily believes there are more than six victims and urged others not to chat with strangers online, especially where investments are involved, Shin Min reported.

Responding to the Chinese evening daily's queries, the police said that investigations are ongoing.

Investment scams are among the most common scams in Singapore, according to the police.

Members of the public are advised to exercise caution when making investment decisions, and to verify the authenticity of such opportunities.

This includes checking with a licensed financial advisor before making any investments, as well as to use resources such as the Investor Alert List on the Monetary Authority of Singapore's website.

ALSO READ: Once bitten, twice not shy: Woman loses over $15k to online love scams

chingshijie@asiaone.com

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