Mother of 5 wins $30k Sheng Siong lucky draw prize, almost mistakes call for scam

With scam calls becoming increasingly rampant, a 41-year-old mother of five did not believe it when she was told that she was the lucky winner of $30,000.

Siti Hajar Ramli had received a call from Sheng Siong informing her that she won the second prize in its Selamat Hari Raya lucky draw, reported Berita Harian (BH).

She almost declined the call when she saw that it came from an unknown number, and remained sceptical, thinking that it was a scam even when the Sheng Siong staff introduced herself.

"I have been receiving a lot of scam calls lately. When I received the call, I was about to get angry with the caller," BH quoted her as saying.

Siti was only convinced after verifying that the call had come from Sheng Siong's headquarters, and after the staff verified her address and identification number.

Siti, who runs a home-based business, told BH that she often buys ingredients for her business from the Sheng Siong branch at Junction 10.

Her 10-year-old daughter had helped to fill in the lucky draw form at the time and prayed for good fortune.

When asked what she would do with the prize money, Siti was quoted as saying that she would use it to ease the financial burden on her husband, who is the family's sole breadwinner.

The Sheng Siong lucky draw ran from Feb 20 to April 16, offering a total of $400,000 in cash and prizes.

The grand prize was $50,000, while the third prize was $20,000.

Other prizes included $1,000 cash prizes and Corelle dinnerware sets.

[[nid:737300]]

dana.leong@asiaone.com