S'pore man, 71, loses life savings of S$21,000 after falling for lottery scam on Facebook

An elderly man in Singapore was scammed out of more than S$21,000 he had saved for his retirement after falling for a lottery scam on Facebook.

The 71-year-old, known as Yang (transliteration), came across an advertisement in late August that promised lottery wins, reported Shin Min Daily News.

The scam

Yang first placed a call to the number in the Facebook advertisement, but it didn’t go through.

However, the scammer returned his call in early September.

The other party then told Yang that they knew people in Singapore Pools who could provide the winning numbers ahead of each draw, reported Shin Min.

But Yang would have to pay for it: numbers for the first prize cost S$1,988, second prize S$1,688, and third prize S$1,388.

He reportedly told the scammers that he could not afford those, and they instead asked for S$500 to set up his account, and another S$500 for five sets of 4D numbers.

On Sep. 5, Yang was given the five sets of numbers and promised S$300,000 if he won.

However, none of the numbers matched, and he questioned the scammer.

The scammer then claimed that the numbers were "sold out" due to their popularity and hence couldn't be drawn, but promised to get his insider to alter the tickets for Yang to strike the lottery.

Yang then received a text the next day informing him that he had won the first prize, accompanied by a photo of a cheque for S$300,000.

Asked to transfer more

Yang was asked to transfer the scammer another S$1,488, the remainder of the first prize fee, which he obliged.

On Sep. 9, the scammer said that transferring the prize money, which was a large sum, may raise suspicions of money laundering, and asked for S$5,850 in “handling fees”.

Two days later, he was asked to transfer another S$7,840 for the same reason.

By Sep. 16, Yang had yet to receive the promised prize money and made a police report.

However, he still transferred the scammers another S$3,500 in hopes of receiving the prize money at the beginning of October and on Oct. 16.

Yang finally realised he had been scammed when they asked him for more money, and read reports of such cases in the Chinese newspapers a few days ago.

The man said that he is now penniless and unemployed as his contract for cleaning work had expired, and can only survive on instant noodles and bread daily, according to Shin Min.

Through this ordeal, Yang said he lost a total of S$21,688.

Police investigations are ongoing.