Man, 49, loses $80k to investment scam after chatting with ‘S’porean woman’ online for 3 years
A 49-year-old engineer lost about $80,000 after befriending a woman claiming to be a Singaporean on Facebook, chatting with her for three years and investing in an “online store”.
The unmarried man, known as Mr Li (transliterated), told Shin Min Daily News that he met the woman, who went by the name “Yuting”, on Facebook in 2023.
She claimed to be a Singapore citizen who had been living overseas and owned a property at Sentosa Cove.
“We first chatted on Messenger before moving to WhatsApp. We chatted on and off for nearly three years. During that time, we would exchange greetings and check in on each other every month, and we cared about each other,” he recalled.
Not long after they started chatting, Yuting asked if he was interested in investing with her, claiming he could easily earn about 15 per cent in commissions by running an “online store” selling goods.
“She said it was a dropshipping job. I would act as an intermediary, placing orders with suppliers on behalf of ‘customers’. I had to pay for the goods upfront, and once the transaction was completed, I would get the money back and earn a commission,” he said.
Convinced to invest in online shop
Li said Yuting asked him to invest several times over the three years, but he remained suspicious as she had repeatedly refused his requests for video calls and in-person meetings.
“In June 2026, she brought it up again and said she would be returning to Singapore soon for work. I asked her to send me photos to prove she was a real person, and she did. So I believed her.”
Li shared that the woman had sent him several pictures of herself, including one showing her sitting on a hotel bed in pyjamas and another of her in a white dress holding a wine glass.
He then opened an account in May, and invested nearly $80,000 over the course of the following month.
Account becomes ‘locked’, scammers demand more money
Li explained that he initially followed the instructions to place orders and received commissions, and left the money in the account without withdrawing it.
The orders grew larger, with some requiring payments of tens of thousands of dollars, prompting him to pour his savings into the account until he could no longer afford to fulfil them.
“By mid-June, I was unable to complete an order worth nearly $40,000. The system then showed that my account had been locked and told me to transfer money immediately to ‘unlock’ it,” Li explained.
Hoping to recover the money in his account, he made another transfer and successfully completed the order.
However, when he later tried to withdraw his money, he was told he had missed the stipulated time and that his “credit limit” was insufficient. He was instructed to top up his account again before he could make a withdrawal.
“Yuting told me to top up 50,000 Tether (about S$63,600) to bring my ‘credit limit’ back up. Otherwise, I would not be able to withdraw the money in my account. That was when I felt something was wrong and suspected I had been scammed.”
Tether is a cryptocurrency stablecoin pegged to the US dollar.
Investigations ongoing
Li said he has not recovered the sum, and he now steers clear of making friends online.
“All this money was my hard-earned savings. I hope Yuting will see this and return my money. I also want to remind everyone not to trust these kinds of ‘easy ways to make extra money’,” he added.
The police confirmed that a report had been lodged and investigations are ongoing.
Scammer tells victim: ‘Go ahead and report me’
After suspecting that he had been scammed, Li confronted Yuting, but said she showed no remorse and instead told him to report the matter to the police.
“I told her I was going to make a police report. She said, ‘Do whatever you have to do.’ After that, she stopped replying to my messages. I believe she has blocked me.”
He said he was still able to log into the “online store” account in June, but the website is now defunct. He believes the money he invested is gone.
Seeks legal help online, but falls for ‘fake lawyer’
Desperate to recover his money, Li searched online for legal assistance but ended up encountering a “fake lawyer”.
“I entered my personal details online, and a man contacted me. He said he was a lawyer and could help me get my money back,” he said.
“He also sent me transaction records, claiming he had transferred the 60,000 Tether in my account to my cryptocurrency wallet, but said I had to pay a fee before I could withdraw it.”
Li then followed the instructions and transferred 7,153 Tether to the man.
However, the man then cut off contact with him.
Police also confirmed that a report had been lodged over the incident.
This incident follows a recent report of a 68-year-old retiree who invested over $70,000 into what he thought was an investment in AI robots.
According to mid-year scam and cybercrime statistics released by the Singapore Police Force (SPF) on Aug 26, investment scams recorded the highest losses at $168.8 million in the first half of 2026.
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