Carousell scams usually involve quite a bit of money:

But on May 17, Singaporean blogger Kelvin Ang warned of a Carouseller who pretended to work for him in order to scam.... four pairs of socks.

Ang, who is the author and blogger behind parenting blog Cheekiemonkies, wrote a Facebook post on the incident.

A police report has also been made.

Claims to work for blogger, requests socks to review

On May 12, a user known as Jonnnkara approached apparel vendor Einashop on the Carousell app, which is an online marketplace.

He started the conversation by claiming to work for Cheekiemonkies.

With this identity, Jonnnkara requested for two pairs of socks, as the blog is supposedly doing a review for "parents looking to buy new socks" over the school holidays.

In an attempt to convince the owner of Einashop, Jonnnkara went on to say that the review article will be seen by "over 5,000 people" and can bring the shop "excellent publicity".

As owner Eric Foo was interested to tap into the school-going market, he considered the offer and said that he will get back to Jonnnkara after reading some articles on the blog.

Socks cost S$12.90 for 4 pairs

If you're wondering what's so special about these socks, they are marketed as "premium nanotech" ankle socks that are apparently can speed up the healing of small wounds.

Additionally, the socks also promise to be anti-bacterial and have odour-control properties.

Currently, it's selling at S$12.90 for four pairs, which, to be honest, is a puzzling amount to scam someone of.

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Review process includes trying 10 pairs of socks over 2 weeks

Foo then asked several questions to find out more about the review, such as how it will work and the items they will need:

Jonnnkara explained that Ang's sons will be trying on 10 pairs of socks from different retailers over a period of two weeks, and even shared the review process.

He also added that it "won't be a problem" if Foo were to provide more than two pairs of socks:

Jonnnkara told Foo then the blog post should be up by the start of June.

Did not let vendor talk to blogger

Foo then requested to talk to Ang personally, so that he could ascertain the credibility of the collaboration and also to confirm the sizes of the socks meant for his children.

However, Jonnnkara gave several excuses, such as Ang being "busy" with his children's exams or saying that it will "take a while" for him to get back to Foo.

He then told Foo to send them the biggest size they have as Ang's sons, who are 12 and 13, apparently have "quite big feet".

Carousell account suspended

Even though Foo did not manage to talk to Ang personally, he went ahead to mail out the socks anyway.

And instead of sending two pairs of socks as requested, Foo mailed four pairs instead.

Foo thought all was well after he posted the package to the given address and ended the conversation by saying that he was looking forward to a preview of the article.

However, moments after that, he received a notification from Carousell saying that the account has been suspended.

Alarmed by this, he sent Ang an email, who unfortunately confirmed that Jonnnkara has nothing to do with him or Cheekiemonkies.

Shop owner: Story "fell into place", "credible"

Speaking to Mothership, Foo shared why he decided to agree with the collaboration.

"Everything was falling into place and he was selling us a very complete and credible story."

He also added that he didn't think it was a scam at first as Jonnnkara made a "very small request".

Blogger bemused

We reached out to Ang, who shared that he was more bemused than angry with the scammer.

"I do not understand why on earth will someone risk doing this for just a few pairs of socks which cost less than S$15 in total."

In an Instagram story, Ang also shared that a police report has been made and that he is only represented by Nuffnang, a blog advertising company.

We're just wondering why "Jonnnkara" went through all the trouble for a few pairs of socks  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Original post here:

Images courtesy of Eric Foo