Hong Huifang recalls being almost scammed by 'friend'

Hong Huifang almost became a victim of scam when she received a call last year from someone claiming to be her friend.

The 64-year-old local actress told 8days in an interview published today (Nov 14) that she was jogging one day when she received a call from an unknown number. The person called her "Huifang-ah", which was how one of her friends would address her.

The person, whom Huifang had believed to be her friend, then told her their mobile phone had been stolen and wanted her to save their new phone number.

They contacted her again two days later and told Huifang they were trying to do a bank transfer, but the OTP was sent to the previous phone number, and they have not set up their new bank details yet.

Huifang shared: "I told them they could do the transfer online, but they insisted they couldn't and asked for my help with the transfer."

As she was concerned that her friend needed the money urgently, she offered to bring it to their home, but they declined, saying that they didn't want to trouble her.

Realising something was amiss, she ended the call saying she would be in touch and called the number she had used to contact her friend previously.

Huifang's friend, an artiste, answered the call. That was when the actress realised she had been talking to a scammer as her friend's mobile phone was not lost at all.

While she declined to reveal who the artiste was, Huifang shared that she had told them someone had impersonated them and alerted those around them of the encounter.

Huifang is not the only local celebrities who had brushes with scammers. 

Chen Hanwei told AsiaOne in an interview recently that a couple had approached him in Paragon mall's carpark years ago and tried to sell him red wine.

Despite initially turning down their offer, the 56-year-old believed he became hypnotised and eventually gave them $100. 

When he came to his senses, Hanwei had two bottles of wine, which he checked with a wine shop owner and was told he had been duped with cheap wine.

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yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com