Carousell buyers make police reports over missing Pokemon cards, seller blames supplier who's arrested
Three men were arrested after some Carousell buyers did not get their Pokemon trading cards.
The police said they received several reports between May and June made by buyers cheated by a Carousell seller. Even after they made payment via bank transfers, they did not receive the cards.
When questioned, the seller claimed he was in a business venture with another supplier who did not honour the transactions upon receiving payments.
Through follow-up investigations, officers from the Commercial Affairs Department established the identities of the supplier and his accomplices and arrested them on June 26 and 27.
The trio are believed to be involved in at least 50 cases of such scams and purportedly cheated victims out of at least $57,000.
One man, 26, was to be charged in court on June 28 with assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct, which is punishable with an imprisonment term of up to three years, a fine not exceeding $50,000 or both.
The two other men, aged 21 and 28, were to be charged on the same day with accessing without authority bank accounts belonging to separate individual to withdraw payments. The offence is punishable with an imprisonment term of up to two years, a fine of up to $5,000 or both.
The police reminded members of the public to exercise caution when buying products from non-authorised platforms.
- Keep communications within the platform and transact in person so that you can inspect the products before making payment.
- Be wary of e-commerce scam red flags such as large discounts for faster transactions.
- Do not transfer money to anyone you do not know.
- Never disclose your personal information, internet banking or one-time passwords to anyone.
If you are in doubt, call the 24/7 ScamShield Helpline at 1799 to check. For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamshield.gov.sg.
