A 27-year-old private university student was scammed of his life savings amounting to S$40,000 after falling for a woman online.

The student, who wished to stay anonymous, started chatting with an attractive woman named "Anna".

She asked him to complete certain tasks for her which involved transferring money to a fake Balenciaga account to earn a 10 per cent commission.

He ended up transferring S$45,590 to her.

However, he soon suspected that something was amiss. When he asked her to transfer the money back to him, she replied that she had transferred the money elsewhere.

He then filed a police report.

Said that she was a Balenciaga employee

The student and "Anna" followed each other on Instagram on Oct. 14. They soon exchanged contact numbers.

They started talking, and the woman revealed that she was working at Balenciaga.

"Anna" shared more about herself through their daily interactions. She mentioned that she was a Malaysian working in Singapore.

The duo chatted extensively, and he soon found himself falling in love with the woman.

They entered into a relationship, and would talk for one or two hours everyday.

Asked him to help with listings

The student told Mothership that ever since he had an operation done on his foot a few months ago, he is unable to stand for long hours, which affected his job prospects.

When "Anna" offered him a chance to earn some money, he jumped at the chance.

"Anna" told him that if he helped to write reviews for Balenciaga products, he would earn a 10 per cent commission.

However, in order to earn the commission, she would ask him to transfer a sum of money to a number which he thought belonged to "Balenciaga customer service".

Transferred a total of S$45,590

In a span of three hours from Oct. 18, the student made a total of 14 transfers to "Balenciaga", amounting to S$45,590.

During the first two transactions, the student managed to receive S$116 and S$735 respectively, with S$41 worth of commission.

He felt that something was amiss when "Anna" said that he needed to transfer more money to earn the commission.

When he asked her to refund him, she said that she had already transferred the money to her mother's bank account.

For the subsequent 12 transfers, he was unable to get back a single cent.

Threatened him after he ghosted her

When he realised he was being scammed, he ghosted "Anna" and stopped replying to her texts.

In response, she spammed him with messages on Whatsapp, cursing at him.

"I thought you were dead. Return the money. After two days of not speaking, were you waiting for today [to return the money]?" "Anna" said.

"You said that you would complete [the task], but you disappeared for two days. Did you even see my messages? Why? Can I still believe [your words] now?" she added.

"Anna" continued to curse at him. He then revealed to "Anna" that he had filed a police report, which caused the woman to curse at him even more.

There was no such employee

When the student contacted Balenciaga, the brand confirmed that the number was false and there was no such employee named "Anna".

He then filed a police report, but the police told him that it was difficult to retrieve the money.

"I was depressed for two weeks," he told Shin Min.

He said that he had saved up the money from working over the past few years from delivering food and selling products.

The money was supposed to cover his monthly tuition fees of S$5,000 per semester. He plans to apply for the school's emergency bursary to alleviate some of his financial burden.

In addition, the student also said that he has to see a doctor regularly for his foot, and pay expensive medical bills for his operation.

"I hope that after reading my story, everyone can stay vigilant and not be fooled," the student concluded. 

Cover image courtesy of the student.