I lost over $10K to a loan scam
Anonymous | 13 Oct 2021
Loan Scam
I was for licenced moneylenders online and found lending bee (the fake one obviously). the admin, olivia lim, contacted me on whatsapp and ask information such as ic, payslips, CPF history and bank statement. thereafter, the loan was 'approved' and she sent me a contract and needed me to pay $3000 for admin fee and $3000 for stamp duty fee, both to different bank accounts. she even mentioned that the money is refundable after the loan is released.
After the transfer, I was routed to the finance person, who said will activate my bank account for future repayment. that account activation would cost me $4000 and she told me it's refundable.
amount paid up till this point:
ADMIN FEE ($3000) - UOB 42239673??
STAMP DUTY FEE ($3000) - STANDARD CHARTERED 40297847??
ACCOUNT ACTIVATION ($3000) - STANDARD CHARTERED 40297847??
I was routed to the manager, mike. he called me (in ah beng fashion) and asked if I have paid for government tax. I was in shock, because to get a loan, i need to fork out that much of money. and this point of time, other than being really tired of having to fork out money before i get the money, my scam radar finally kicked in. looking at their whatsapp bio, the email stated was LENDINGBEE.ORG.SG@GMAIL.COM, which obviously suspicious. not only that, there were many typo errors on the contract.
Instead of calling mike to tell him that he is a scam (or potentially a loan shark), i told him i want to exit this thing. he told me, in order to exit, i would need to fork out 20K, as per the contract. however they would return 10K to me. out of my mind, losing 20k is better than they coming to my house or office to harrass me, i called up the legitimate licenced moneylender for loan to pay for the 20K and to exit the scam.
Not only did the LEGITIMATE LICENCED MONEYLENDER stopped my application upon hearing that I was borrowing money to pay for scam, they helped me to call the scam hotline and told me to make police report. they even told me not to be scared of them and reassured me that things would be okay.
I made police report and have blocked them. it's an expensive lesson (10K T^T) but it's a lesson which i will remember for life. even if I'm unable to recover the 10k, I just hope my story can help others.
After the transfer, I was routed to the finance person, who said will activate my bank account for future repayment. that account activation would cost me $4000 and she told me it's refundable.
amount paid up till this point:
ADMIN FEE ($3000) - UOB 42239673??
STAMP DUTY FEE ($3000) - STANDARD CHARTERED 40297847??
ACCOUNT ACTIVATION ($3000) - STANDARD CHARTERED 40297847??
I was routed to the manager, mike. he called me (in ah beng fashion) and asked if I have paid for government tax. I was in shock, because to get a loan, i need to fork out that much of money. and this point of time, other than being really tired of having to fork out money before i get the money, my scam radar finally kicked in. looking at their whatsapp bio, the email stated was LENDINGBEE.ORG.SG@GMAIL.COM, which obviously suspicious. not only that, there were many typo errors on the contract.
Instead of calling mike to tell him that he is a scam (or potentially a loan shark), i told him i want to exit this thing. he told me, in order to exit, i would need to fork out 20K, as per the contract. however they would return 10K to me. out of my mind, losing 20k is better than they coming to my house or office to harrass me, i called up the legitimate licenced moneylender for loan to pay for the 20K and to exit the scam.
Not only did the LEGITIMATE LICENCED MONEYLENDER stopped my application upon hearing that I was borrowing money to pay for scam, they helped me to call the scam hotline and told me to make police report. they even told me not to be scared of them and reassured me that things would be okay.
I made police report and have blocked them. it's an expensive lesson (10K T^T) but it's a lesson which i will remember for life. even if I'm unable to recover the 10k, I just hope my story can help others.
