A Singaporean woman lost more than 100,000 Singapore dollars (approximately $77,960.55) over four months after a supposed insurance customer persuaded her to invest in cryptocurrency.
Here's what to know
The woman, a finance worker identified by the pseudonym Ruth, met the man through a friend who had connected with him on a dating app, according to Mothership. He used the name Rob and said he was reaching out about insurance.
Ruth's first crypto investing experience included apparent early returns in a legitimate, widely used app. Rob had helped her set up a crypto wallet after their conversations turned to the subject and assured her that stablecoin staking carried no risk.
The required investments began to grow; however, Rob described this as routine. He then directed her funds to Qevorinex, a much less prominent platform with little to no digital footprint, Mothership found.
The platform later accused Ruth of offenses including insider trading and demanded penalties and fees. Ruth said she paid out of a "sense of obligation," hoping to recover money she believed had been frozen.
More background
Ruth invited Rob to her daughter's party. Instead of attending, Rob sent a gift after being invited. He also claimed to work for an established Singapore energy company, shared photos of a supposed daughter, and joined video calls.
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The Malaysian identity-card number Rob supplied matched no registered individual. Mothership also located images resembling him on Chinese websites, including some offering stock photographs.
Ruth suggested an AI filter might have been involved in the video calls.
Rob claimed he invested his own money, and Ruth viewed the investment as savings for her children. When she stopped paying, threatening calls and messages followed.
What's being done?
Ruth filed a police report, and police confirmed to Mothership that investigations were ongoing. Qevorinex also appeared to have been blocked under Singapore's Online Criminal Harms Act.
Other apps had attempted to stop Ruth's transfers because the destination was considered unsafe. Rob persuaded her to ignore those warnings, claiming that banks simply did not want money leaving their systems.
Mothership also found that ScamAdviser rated Qevorinex "likely unsafe." The platform's owner concealed their identity, and a telephone number associated with the registrant had appeared in other potential online scams.
Ruth eventually blocked Rob's number after initially staying in contact, hoping to recover her savings. She feared the threats because he knew her address.
According to Ruth, police told her that the number was spoofed and that recovering the money would be difficult or impossible.
"I feel horrible daily of course. It's a huge part of my savings (for the children) gone, and he used my weakness (the kids) to make me invest on this platform, promising that i could take out the money. But, the truth is the transaction hash shows that the money is gone overseas and cannot be found," Ruth told Mothership.
Where can I learn more?
The tactics used against Ruth have surfaced in other scams and are important to watch out for.
• A woman lost $600,000 to a pig-butchering scam and faced a $225,000 IRS bill.
• In Cambodia, Interpol warned that romance and crypto scams were draining millions from Asian economies.
• An 88-year-old Canadian lost $450,000 to a deepfake Mark Carney pitch; TD refused repayment.
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