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A 14-year-old Singaporean girl, who was trying to earn some extra money for her family, was tricked by scammers into transferring S$1,122 to them as a "deposit".
She was also told that she had to send them nude photos of herself to pay off the "debts" she had incurred.
The girl's father, Wu, 42, told Shin Min Daily News that the scammers had contacted his daughter on Apr. 28, promising her rewards of between S$50 and S$100 for completing tasks online.
"A person, supposedly a woman, who introduced herself as Jolin, approached my daughter on Telegram asking her if she was looking for work," Wu explained.
"My daughter was thinking of earning some money to support the family, so she accepted. Subsequently, some so-called 'agents' reached out to her."
Girl instructed to make 'deposits' to earn rewards
Shin Min reported that it understood that one of the "agents" identified herself as "Alice" and sent Wu's daughter a "job link".
The girl was allegedly instructed to register an account through the link, and was told she could earn rewards by making deposits and completing tasks.
However, if she was unable to complete the tasks or make the necessary deposit within a specified time period, she would incur a penalty that would be reflected in her account balance.
This penalty, she was informed, would double each time.
The girls mother, Mrs Wu, told Shin Min that her daughter had received such a task on Apr. 30 afternoon.
If she deposited S$100 into the account, the girl was told by an agent, she would receive S$10 as a reward.
Incurred 'penalties' of more than S$3,000
The teen then made the deposit, but the requested amounts increased to a sum she could not afford.
The requested amount soon snowballed to around S$11,000, according to Shin Min.
So, the teen resorted to secretly using funds from her mother's bank account.
Her last "deposit" involved sending sums of S$284 and S$738 respectively to two separate phone numbers, according to Shin Min.
"Even though my daughter had 'deposited' S$1,122 in total, she was informed that the penalties incurred to her account had increased from around S$2,000 to more than S$3,000," the girl's mother shared.
"As such, she was informed that she had to repay her 'debts' of more than S$1,000."
According to Mrs Wu, it was the first time her daughter had used her phone without explicit permission.
Was allegedly asked to send nude pics
When the girl was at her wit's end, she was contacted on Telegram by a man who promised to help pay off the S$3,000 "penalties" incurred, the girl's mother shared.
The catch?
The teen was asked to send him nude pictures of herself, according to Shin Min.
The girl did not comply.
Instead, she sent over nude pictures of other people she had found on the Internet.
Owned up to mother, with 'face pale' and 'trembling'
Mrs Wu explained to Shin Min that her daughter was desperate to retrieve the sum she had deposited, while being under a lot of pressure to send the nude pictures to repay her "debts".
Eventually, on May 1, she confessed to her mother.
"Around 10-plus at night, she came crying to me. She was trembling and her entire face was pale," Mrs Wu revealed.
"I had never seen her in such a state before."
Mrs Wu initially thought that her daughter was not in her right mind.
Once she understood the situation, though, it made her upset and she was unable to sleep the entire night.
Instead, she hurriedly closed her bank account that the transfer had been made from.
Parents made police report
After learning that the scammers had pressured their underage daughter for nude pictures, the girl's parents condemned the "heinous" behaviour.
They also made a police report the next day.
"Thankfully, she didn't send the pictures," Wu told Shin Min.
"If something like this happened when she was older, or away from home, I... (can't imagine)."
"At least she is all right, and can take this as a lesson for the future," he concluded.
Mrs Wu, on the other hand, felt sorry that her daughter went through such a harrowing experience, even though she just wanted to earn some extra money.
She advised the girl to focus on her studies and help out with housework, instead of worrying about the family's finances.
Top image composite via Fausto Sandoval/ Unsplash & Shin Min Daily News.