Only 24 cents left: Woman loses $80k life savings after encountering 'wicked' scammer while selling her old clothes

In wanting to recycle her old clothes by selling them online, a woman who recently quit her job to pursue her master's degree lost her life savings of over $80,000 to scammers.

Chen Hongcai (transliteration), 38, said she had chanced upon a Facebook advertisement by a recycling company wanting to buy old clothes for restoration purposes on Nov 6, reported 8world.

After contacting the company, an 'administrator' later called to inform her about the collection details and sent Chen a link to choose a time slot for collection.

Describing the website as "realistic" with no visible issues, Chen said she only noticed something was strange afterwards, when she realised that the company sells all sorts of miscellaneous items, according to 8world.

Explaining that she was not after the money the company had offered, Chen said she thought that the proper way to dispose of her pre-loved clothing was by recycling them.

"Thinking back to it now, I realised that it's strange. At that time, I didn't notice that this company has no address and only saw that they could come to my house to pick up the old clothes," she said.

Did not share personal information

The woman claimed she had only selected her desired time slot for collection on the website and that she did not share any personal information with them.

The next day (Nov 7), however, she received a call from POSB at about 9am, informing her that a DBS bank account had been opened under her name the day before. And her savings of over $80,000 were then reportedly transferred out of this new DBS account.

"The collection was supposed to be on Tuesday, I spent time organising them and was so happy to be able to recycle my old items. Speaking about this makes me want to cry, the $80,000 is my life savings, and is also the money I use to pay my school fees...

"It's so wicked, what should I do about my school fees and living expenses?" Chen bemoaned.

She added: "I could not believe it at that time, the bank will usually send SMS notifications, but there were none during this transfer of such a large sum of money. The bank said the scammers hacked into my phone and remotely controlled it to switch off the notifications."

Believes bank security measures need to be strengthened

On Nov 8, Chen also went down to a POSB branch to seek help.

After some discussion with the management, the bank manager reportedly told her that this incident was due to her carelessness, and it would be difficult to get the sum of money back.

However, the bank reportedly offered to credit $500 to her account, said Chen. 

While the woman admitted that she was at fault, she said she's disappointed with how the bank handled the situation.

She believes that the bank's security measures need to be strengthened, for the scammer had easily used her identity to open a new account and transfer out large amounts of money without any verification or notification.

Chen revealed that she had been saving for a long time to finance a master's programme, and recently quit her job to focus on her studies.

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However, she was unexpectedly scammed less than half a year after quitting, and this made her feel very helpless.

"I only have 24 cents left in my bank account and don't dare to eat anything when I go to school today," she said, adding that she is in "agony".

She currently plans to borrow money from her family for her living expenses and has made a police report, while she will think of another plan to pay for her school fees.

Responding to 8world's inquires, the police confirmed that a report has been lodged and investigations are ongoing.

Netizens previously warned of recycling company

Some Facebook users have previously warned others about a scam by a recycling company using the same advertisement Chen had seen.

On Nov 2, a netizen warned others to beware of a recycling company called Re-skinned Clothing, which had reportedly requested her to download an app that requires one to "register for a account with detailed information".

"When I refused, they quickly deleted the link to this 'weird' apps of theirs immediately," said the netizen, who later reposted the warning to Complaint Singapore Facebook page on Nov 4.

A Facebook post by another netizen on Nov 6 shows the same advertisement under a company named Reborn Tops. 

"Recently, someone from Complaint Singapore wrote about this company known as Reborn Tops (now defunct) which recently disappeared from social media," said the netizen.

"I'm lucky the person who was my point of contact didn't meet me after texting to say she would collect my clothes."

ALSO READ: Gone in 15 minutes: Woman loses over $72k after downloading app to sell pre-loved kitchen appliances

lim.kewei@asiaone.com