Woman Loses Over S$4,300 In Alleged Cleaners Ad Scam

Singapore is on high alert for scams. Despite our best efforts, some are still tricked into giving up their hard-earned dollars.

Posing under disguises ranging from recruiters to government agencies, the scammers have elaborate plans that may bring dire consequences to victims.

This was what 47-year-old Lu Meilin (name transliterated from Chinese) found out the hard way after falling for a scam herself.

Coming across a cleaning company, she tried hiring their services – only to lose more than S$4,300.

Woman comes across cleaning advertisement on Facebook

According to Shin Min Daily News, Ms Lu found an advertisement by a cleaning company on Facebook a couple of days ago.

As she had no time to clean her house recently, she decided to reach out to the company.

They then asked for her phone number via a Facebook chat. Shortly after, a representative from the firm under a Malaysian contact reached out to her through WhatsApp.

“We negotiated a cleaning service of S$25 for four hours and made an appointment,” Ms Lu said. “The other party sent a link asking me to download a mobile app and pay a deposit of S$5 online after registration.”

The link contained a form, which she filled up with her credit card number, expiry date, cardholder’s name, verification code and other information accordingly.

However, when she clicked ‘submit’, the li...