Man poses as friend’s ex-girlfriend using her photo, scams him of $7,600
A 34-year-old man has been jailed for impersonating his friend’s ex-girlfriend on a messaging platform to scam him out of $7,600 to pay off his gambling debts.
According to Shin Min Daily News, Huang Wei Jie (transliterated) was pleaded guilty to cheating and was sentenced to seven weeks’ jail.
Posed as friend’s ex-girlfriend
The victim, a 28-year-old man, had been friends with Huang for five years.
Court documents stated that Huang had incurred debts to friends and licensed moneylenders in early 2024 due to gambling.
Knowing that the victim had broken up with his girlfriend, and that she had no intention of reconciling, Huang devised a plan to impersonate her and cheat him of his money.
Around May 6, 2024, Huang created a new Telegram account and used an old photo of the victim’s ex-girlfriend as his profile picture.
Posing as her, he messaged the victim, claiming he wanted to reconcile. He then asked the victim to transfer money into a UOB bank account, framing it as a joint savings account for the both of them.
In reality, the account belonged only to Huang.
Victim transferred $7,600 into the account
Believing his ex-girlfriend wanted to get back together, the victim transferred a total of $7,600 into the account across 14 transactions between May 6 and Oct 20, 2024.
Upon receiving the amount, Huang used the funds to pay off his debts and for personal expenses.
In January 2025, the victim contacted his actual ex-girlfriend, and after verifying the situation, he realised he had been scammed.
He then reported the incident to the police.
Huang has since made full restitution to the victim.
Scams remain a significant issue in Singapore. In 2025, there were 37,308 reported cases, with total losses amounting to $913.1 million.
In January alone, more than 2,800 scam cases were reported, with victims losing over $47.4 million.
In February, police said at least $2.9 million had been lost to scams involving the physical collection of valuables, such as gold bars, jewellery and luxury watches, for purported “investigation purposes”.
See something interesting? Contribute your story to us.
Explore more on these topics
