SINGAPORE – A woman who thought she could earn $5,000 in commission within hours ended up losing $7,000 to a bulk order scam.
All Ms Christina Heng, a director of an interior design company, had to do was to transfer a $7,000 deposit to a “Malaysian supplier” for 60 mattresses. She was supposedly paying this deposit on behalf of “Dunman High School”.
A man claiming to be from the school had contacted her by phone, seemingly for renovation works in the school. The man, a “Mr Lee”, subsequently asked her to order the mattresses, which cost about $30,000, for the school.
After eventually paying the deposit via bank transfer, she waited for the school to transfer the $30,000 to her bank account. But this never happened.
By the time she realised it was a scam, there was no way for her to get back the $7,000 deposit she had paid to the “Malaysian supplier” who was part of the scam.
Ms Heng, 53, posted about her experience on Facebook on Oct 15.
On Oct 16, she told The Straits Times: “I thought it was a blessing because in the last two months, I did not have any projects to work on. My commission was supposed to be $5,000 for the purchase of the mattresses.”
She said the “school” had asked for her bank account and said it had transferred $29,400 to her.
But the money transfer – for the 60 mattresses at $490 each – was a ploy because no fund transfer was made to her bank account.
Ms Heng was first contacted by Mr Lee on Oct 13.
While arrangements were being made for a “meeting” on Oct 15 with the school principal to discuss the project, Mr Lee asked Ms Heng if she had contacts for mattresses.
While surprised by the request, she said: “I didn’t think anything was suspicious because I thought the school needed the mattresses for physical education lessons.”
She told ST that while she was aware of bulk order scams, the scheduled meeting with the principal gave her the confidence that the project and mattress purchase were legitimate.
Mr Lee then gave her the contact number of the Malaysian mattress supplier.
Ms Heng wrote in her Facebook post: “Because the principal had an issue with that supplier, they could not deal directly, so he (Mr Lee) needed my help to place the order on behalf of the school.”
On Oct 15, Ms Heng spoke to the supplier who told her he could not deliver the mattresses without payment but added that he would give her a discount.
She said Mr Lee told her to get the mattresses quickly as an inspector was visiting the school on Oct 15, the day of the supposed meeting with the principal.
