A range of buildings along Rochor Road were vandalised on Monday morning, April 24.

The police was alerted to the case at 8.49am, which occurred at 149 Rochor Road.

A message scrawled in Mandarin on the wall, translated into English, said: "Challenging an individual to 'come out' if he or she dares."

Meanwhile, a photo supposedly taken at UOB bank has been gaining traction on the Hardwarezone forum.

While it has not been verified, it fits all the listed details: It looks like the branch at Fu Lu Shou Complex, which is at 149 Rochor Road, and it's scrawled in Mandarin, provoking someone to come out if they dared.

The first half of the sentence before "come outside if you dare" proves to be a bit of a mystery -- in Mandarin, that is.

A quick search on the interweb reveals a possible interpretation, in Hokkien or Teochew, 查某 (char bor) would be the characters for girl or woman.

The vandal might have written it in a different or incorrect way, however, as the second character has an added radical, becoming 媒 instead 某.

It is not certain whether the vandal might have done that to emphasise that he was calling out a female target. Moreover, the full meaning of the sentence has yet to be accurately deciphered, including the meaning of the number 18.

In addition to UOB, similar messages were found at Albert complex, and a cafe near Bugis Junction.

Investigations are currently ongoing.

Vandalism is a punishable offence. If found guilty, one can be fined up to S$2,000 or face up to three years in jail, and may face three to eight strokes of the cane.

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