Taxi driver, 60, borrows from family to send over $43k to woman he met online — still chats with her after making police report
A 60-year-old taxi driver borrowed money from his wife, children, mother and younger sister to send more than $43,000 to a woman he met online, whom he regarded as his “younger sister”.
Despite making a police report, the man, surnamed Zheng (transliterated), still believes the woman will return the money and continues to chat with her.
Zheng told Shin Min Daily News that he met the woman, who identified herself as Ella Ang, on Facebook on Aug 24.
The woman claimed to be a Singaporean working in the shipping industry overseas.
The pair hit it off and later continued their conversations on WhatsApp, addressing each other as “brother” and “sister”.
About 12 days after they first started chatting, the woman reportedly told Zheng that she was short of money and needed $1,000 to cover expenses for an overseas work trip.
She claimed to have invested $660,000 in a shipping business, which had been doing well before it ran into difficulties.
Zheng began transferring money to bank accounts provided by the woman on Sept 5.
He transferred a total of $43,740 over more than 12 transfers, with individual amounts ranging from $1,000 to $10,000.
Zheng said the woman had promised to meet him when she returned to Singapore and repay the money in person, but the meetings never took place.
Their chat records showed that the two continued addressing each other as siblings, with the woman even replying “I love you, big brother” when she received money from the 60-year-old.
Zheng stressed that he helped her out of goodwill and did not expect anything in return.
“I didn’t help her because she was beautiful. She called me ‘brother’, so I helped her. I was just being kind,” he said.
He also denied engaging in any inappropriate exchanges, such as nude video calls.
Urged by wife to file police report
Zheng said the woman later sent him photographs of what she claimed were her identity card and passport as proof of her identity, but he found the images unusual.
His wife urged him to make a police report and accompanied him to do so on Oct 13.
Even after filing the report, Zheng continued chatting with the woman over the following month and informing her he had reported the matter to the police.
However, the woman maintained that she had done nothing wrong and even provided him with login details for an online financial platform, encouraging him to check the account with the police.
According to Zheng, she claimed that there was a large amount of money in the account and that she could repay him once it was unfrozen.
However, the woman allegedly continued asking him for a few hundred dollars at a time, saying she needed money “to eat”.
When Zheng eventually ran out of money, Ang reportedly chided him for not continuing to support her.
“You’re not even willing to give me money for food or help me buy a plane ticket. What have you actually done to support me?” she purportedly asked.
Borrowed from family to help online ‘sister’
Zheng, who has been driving a taxi for 18 years, said the more than $43,000 he sent to the woman came from loans he had taken from his family.
He borrowed from his younger sister, mother, wife and children, only telling them that a friend needed his help.
His younger sister lent him the most, with the total loan from her exceeding $20,000.
When asked how his wife reacted after learning about the situation, Zheng said she remained silent and did not say much.
Members of the public looking for more information on scams, or who suspect they are a victim of one, can visit www.scamshield.gov.sg or call the 24/7 ScamShield Helpline on 1799.
Explore more on these topics
See something interesting? Contribute your story to us.
