[laoba]

Guy lost $6300, more than 2 months of his salary to WeChat scammer in less than a day by buying iTunes Top-Up card. ( Shin Min Daily News - 24 April 2015)





English Version from TNP ( 25 Apr 2015) - [[Wechat Scam]] , Click on link for full story.

Before last week, he had never heard of iTunes.But that didn't stop Mike (not his real name) from buying $6,300 worth of iTunes gift cards for a "girl".

Mike, a Malaysian in his 30s who has been working here for more than 10 years, first got to know Sisi when he received a friend request from her on WeChat, a Chinese messaging service, on April 13.He had thought nothing of adding Sisi as a friend even though he didn't know her. According to her profile picture, she was a young, slim Chinese girl with long hair.

Sisi said she was working as a social escort to earn enough money for her younger brother's education. Mike took pity on her and the pair chatted till 11pm that night.The next day, Sisi told Mike about her next customer."She said she didn't like the customer and begged me to help her by taking over the appointment."

He agreed to meet her at Pioneer MRT station and pay $300 for a seven-hour session.He insisted he was not expecting sex."I just wanted to help her," he said.But when he turned up for the meet-up that afternoon, Sisi was nowhere in sight.Instead, he received a call from a man claiming to be her boss who instructed him to make the $300 payment using iTunes gift cards.

Mike said: "He spoke in Mandarin and had a foreign accent."He said it was safer than paying cash and he knew someone from Apple who would help to transfer the money."Mike believed him and bought two $150 iTunes cards from a nearby convenience store. He then took a picture of the cards' serial numbers and sent it to Sisi over WeChat.

Having the serial numbers enables a person to have free use of the stored credit in the cards. But that was not the end.

On that day and the next, Sisi and the man, using one persuasive tactic after another, managed to convince Mike, who earns $3,000 monthly, to part with a total of $6,300 in iTunes cards. He eventually realised the whole thing was a scam and made a police report on April 15.


In this variation of a love scam, conmen convince male victims to buy cards or online shopping credit in exchange for a meet-up, date or sexual liaison.The scammers typically insist that the victims buy the cards from AXS machines or convenience stores before sending images of the receipts, along with the PIN numbers, for them to claim the credit.They normally befriend victims on social media platforms such as WeChat and iAround, and communicate with the victims through online messaging and phone calls.

To avoid becoming a victim: 1) Be wary of strangers who befriend you online. 2)Do not provide personal details about yourself when engaging with other Internet users. 3) Do not share your payment receipts containing details such as PIN numbers with anyone