Alternate Reality (AR) technology is the next wave in gaming, but one Singaporean woman and her friends were apparently scammed after they signed up for an AR game here in Singapore.

The Mothership.sg reader, who gave her name as Cheryl, told us how she first came across an ad for an AR game on Facebook. It appeared to be a horror-themed game run outdoors, based on the myth of Jack the Ripper.

"Me and a group of friends signed up for this escape game, AR Ripper — touted to be the first to use some brand new tech and bluetooth to play an escape game outdoors, like a cross between Pokemon Go and some horror escape room game.

We first saw this on an ad on Facebook, thought it was interesting, and decided to sign up for it as a group activity. It was scheduled for 3 Dec, and we already paid for it upfront via credit card in August."

Cheryl and her friends signed up in a group of 10, at $45 per person, and got confirmation that her payment was received.

But as the date of the event drew closer and no further details were forthcoming, she began to suspect that something was up.

"I was wondering why we haven't received any details about the event at this point (our game slot was on 3 Dec). I went to check the registration website for any updates, and saw this notice (image below). The event website claims it is a possible fraudulent event! The official website is still there, but all media (images, videos etc) are blank. ANNNND their Facebook page has been deleted."

The company responsible, AR Escapes, does indeed have a website up for their Singapore-based event.

But it displays a prominent but somewhat puzzling self-referential message that reads "THIS EVENT MAY HAVE BEEN POSTED FRAUDULENTLY BY THE EVENT ORGANIZER."

Previous Australian incident

This does not appear to have been the first negative experience customers have had with AR Escapes.

According to its website, the company is located in Australia.

In July 2017, it advertised for an AR game to be held in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. The game was supposed to be held on Nov. 11.

But the people who signed up went through a similar experience to Cheryl, as their emails and requests for more information went unanswered for months.

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An African connection?

Cheryl will be making a police report and checking with the bank for a possible refund.

Unfortunately, she was informed that because the transaction had taken place over two months ago, they would not be able to reverse the charges, and instead must wait for the outcome of an appeal.

Although the company claims that it's located in Australia, for some reason the location Abidjan, Africa popped up on one of the confirmation of payment messages Cheryl received from them.

Abidjan happens to be one of the largest cities in Côte d’Ivoire, a country in West Africa.

Maybe it's a clue as to where the money had been sent.

Who posted the ad?

So what gives? Was the event fraudulent in the first place? If it was, why would they place the warning message up on their own website?

AR technology has garnered a lot of attention for its potential to break new ground in the gaming industry. Escape room games are also becoming popular in Singapore, with TripAdvisor listing more than ten different locations around the city.

A combination of the two sounds potentially awesome, but not so much if customers are getting ripped off.

Mothership has reached out to AR Games for comment.

Top image from Cheryl.

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