Man who lost S$17,000 to scam thanks Shanmugam & police for helping him recover money

After losing S$17,000 to a scam, a man was able to recover all of it nearly four months later, with help from the police and Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam.

He thanked Shanmugam, who also serves as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Nee Soon GRC, in a letter and in person at a recent Meet-the-People Session (MPS).

In a Jun. 13 Facebook post, the minister shared a video of the encounter with the man, surnamed Goh.

"He updated me on an appeal we did for him last year in December," Shanmugam wrote in the caption. "Glad to know that he managed to recover every dollar he lost."

A scam call from "MAS"

On Dec. 8, 2025, Goh received a call from someone who claimed that he had bought an 80-inch TV but had not paid for it.

The 70-year-old told Shin Min Daily News that he had not bought a TV.

The caller said that he might have been involved in money laundering, which made him panic.

They transferred him to two people who were supposedly officials from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

Using an image with the MAS logo as their WhatsApp profile picture, the two purported MAS officials talked to him over a call that lasted two to three hours.

As they spoke professionally in English and sounded like locals, Goh did not suspect much at the time.

Claiming that they wanted to protect his assets, they asked him to transfer some money to a certain bank account, and he immediately did so, transferring S$17,000.

Felt anxious and helpless

In hindsight, Goh felt that he was rather silly to fall for the scam.

He said that he had read news reports about similar scam incidents, but the precautions he had learnt went out the window at the time. His mind was in a panic after being linked to money laundering.

When he discovered that he had been scammed, he "felt very anxious and helpless", he wrote in his letter to Shanmugam and the police.

Now, Goh hopes others can learn from his experience.

"I wish to tell everyone, if you receive a phone call like this, once you feel that something is wrong, hang up immediately," he told Shin Min. "Do not continue to talk to the caller, or else it will be very easy to fall into their trap."

Recovering the money

After the phone call, Goh realised something was wrong. He quickly called his bank to freeze his account, then reported the incident to the police.

He also sought help from Shanmugam at an MPS in January.

Around the end of that month, the authorities informed him that the police were investigating his case, and he was able to recover the money he had lost.

It also helped that Goh had noted down the bank account number that the scammers had given them.

He eventually received his money on Mar. 25, he said in his letter, and expressed gratitude for the guidance and assistance he received throughout the process.