SINGAPORE has always been a country of low crime, thanks to the good work of our police force, which has been maintaining law and order and protecting citizens.

However, as the police crime-busting slogan goes, low crime doesn't mean no crime.

Lately, I have come across cases which resemble those mentioned in the news report "The paperclip scam" (my paper, June 2.)

A few weeks ago, I was approached by a man, aged between 18 and 25, along the walkway outside Sengkang MRT station.

He was holding a money bag and asked me to make a donation.

The bag was black and had a lock hanging in a corner, but the bag did not appear to be secured.

Also, the bag did not have any label on it to show which organisation the donation was going to.

Still, I decided to make a donation.

As I was taking out my purse, I asked the man which organisation he was from and he gave a vague answer by naming some charity.

As I dug into my purse for some coins, he saw that I had around $40 in it, and he promptly told me that they only accept dollar notes.

I was utterly shocked because I have never been approached by any organisation that would ask me to donate so much without issuing a receipt or acknowledgement note.

I hesitated and the man, on seeing that I might not make a donation after all, said "never mind" and ran off.

On Tuesday, at about 5.45pm, I was approached again, by another man, asking me to make a donation into an unmarked bag.

Feeling that it could be another scam, I ignored him.

However, when I thought about it later that night, I felt that it was rather strange that he was asking for donations in the evening, when the administration department of most organisations would have closed for the day.

Which left me wondering who would be taking the collection at the end of the day then.

Ms Huang Weiling

For more my paper stories click here.