Elderly Singapore man pays US$51,000 for imaginary Peking duck as scammers steal his life savings
- The 74-year-old had wanted to take advantage of a Facebook deal on 1.5kg of Peking duck selling for the equivalent of US$17.30, local media reported
- But within minutes of making a small ‘deposit payment’, the man’s phone started going haywire – and his bank accounts were being emptied out
The elderly man, who was identified only as Mr Loh, said he was attracted by a deal on Facebook offering 1.5kg of Peking duck for the equivalent of US$17.30, with an extra S$5 (US$3.64) for delivery fees, Singapore tabloid Shin Min Daily News reported.
He told Shin Min he was going to have dinner with his family on the night of August 26 and thought his grandson would like to eat the popular dish.
Before his order could be processed, the app required him to make a S$5 deposit payment through PayNow.
Loh, a former importer, was initially wary of the ad and even asked if it was a scam. But the person eventually persuaded him to pay the deposit, the newspaper reported.
The scammer told him that “no one would be cheated of S$5” and that “this was a small thing”, according to Singapore newspaper The Straits Times.
