A 23-year-old Malaysian woman fell victim to a Singapore rental scam, in which the other party tried to extort more money by accusing her of money laundering, sending fake lawyer letters, and even threatening to set fire to her home in Malaysia.
Kota Tinggi native Huang Xiaohan (transliterated), who works in retail, told Sin Chew Daily News that she had already been working in Singapore for a few years, and had previously rented a room under a friend's recommendation.
When the lease expired, she went on Facebook to find a new place at the end of February, where she stumbled upon an advertisement about a flat for rent in Serangoon.
She then contacted a woman on WhatsApp, who according to Shin Min Daily News, went by the name "Christina" (transliterated), who claimed to be the owner of the house.
Speaking in a press conference, Huang said that Christina claimed that the room was in high demand, and was told to pay a deposit of $1,250.
Two days later, the other party told her of another potential tenant who could pay for a month's deposit and rent, and told Huang that she will be the tenant if she could pay for the full amount.
After a series of bargaining, Huang decided to transfer $800 to Christina via PayNow, and promised to pay the rest of the sum after seeing the house.
Rushed to seal the deal
Huang told Shin Min that she had rushed to make the deal as the rental felt reasonable for its location, despite not being provided with an address or a unit number.
The next day, Huang tried to contact the landlady but failed to get a response. She then contacted the number associated to the PayNow account, when a man, claiming to be Christina's brother-in-law, picked up.
The man said that Christina was uncontactable as her child had been sick, and asked Huang to pay the remaining $450. She complied with his request and sent in her work permit and her identity card to finalise the contract.
However, after Huang had transferred the money, the man claimed that his intermediary bank account used to receive the money had been "frozen", and told Huang that he was unable to withdraw the $7,700 he had in the account.
He then accused Huang of "money laundering", suspecting that to be the reason behind his "frozen" account. He threatened Huang to hand over the money, and even sent her a lawyer's letter.
Feeling that something was off, Huang decided to file a police report in Singapore, where the police confirmed that the lawyer's letter was forged, and that the law firm was not registered.
Arson threat at her Malaysian home
When Huang returned to Malaysia, she received another message from a different Singapore number, accusing her of absconding with the money she had borrowed from loan sharks.
The message also included a video of her home, photos of her identity card and work permit, as well as a threat to set her Malaysian home on fire if she did not repay the money.
The same evening, she also received another phone call purporting to be a loan shark, falsely accusing her and her colleagues of swindling to pay for the $450 deposit.
The person threatened to send a "runner" to demand her for the $1500, and said that her home will be kept safe if she decided to pay the money.
She made a police report in Kota Tinggi the same day.
To prevent further harassment, Huang had blocked her number, but has since unblocked them, to which she no longer receives blackmail calls.
She told Sin Chew that she is just glad that her family was not dragged into the conflict, and advised the public to be more cautious about online rental advertisements in the future.
According to Shin Min, the Singapore police confirmed that a police report had been lodged and said that investigations are ongoing.
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daoen.wong@asiaone.com
