Man says he lost $157k in Indonesian sports investment

He said the more than $368,000 he transferred was meant to cover production costs for 33 orders.

However, 25 of those orders — which were expected to generate about $394,000 in profit — remain unfulfilled.

He now fears he may not even recover his original investment.

Asked to transfer money to repay another buyer

Zhou said Mariie told him to transfer another 35 million rupiah (about $2,500) to her on Sept 7, saying the money was needed to repay a buyer who had made a police report.

He refused and instead asked for his money back.

Mariie subsequently suggested they travel to Bali together to deal with the unfinished orders and arrange for his investment to be returned.

However, Zhou said he has yet to receive any refund and that Mariie stopped responding after Sept 15.

He subsequently made police reports in Singapore and Indonesia.

The Singapore Police Force confirmed that a report had been lodged and investigations are ongoing.

Shin Min’s attempts to contact Mariie were unsuccessful at the time of reporting.

Receipts provided raised questions

According to Zhou, receipts issued by Mariie did not contain a factory name, signature or contact details.

He also claimed that he repeatedly asked her to provide identification documents, but she gave various reasons for not doing so.

As the number of orders increased, Mariie began missing agreed repayment deadlines, causing Zhou’s suspicions to grow.

“Several times, she told me that certain businesses had not paid their outstanding balances,” he said.

However, when he contacted one Pilates studio she had told him about, the business told him it had never placed an order with Mariie.

This made him suspect that he may have fallen victim to a carefully planned scam.

Man suspects woman linked to another case

Zhou said he later came across an Indonesian media report about a woman who resembled Mariie and had been involved in another scam.

According to the report he showed Shin Min, the woman had operated a travel agency and was accused of being involved in fake flight and hotel bookings.

Victims allegedly paid for flights and accommodation but did not receive valid bookings, while refunds from airlines were purportedly retained by the woman and used to repay debts and cover personal expenses.

Zhou said he also noted in his police reports his suspicion that Mariie may have been involved in the earlier case.

He stressed that he was sharing his experience not only in the hope of recovering his money, but also to warn other Singaporeans about potential investment scams.

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