I WON US$ 50 000!!!!!!!!!!! in a lucky draw. You all better read this!
Ha this is the first time the great RM is posting and haha its about how i almost got conned ha!One day, while i was walking in the neighbourhood centre, I got a call from a china lady who wanted to do a survey with me. Thinking that it was academic research, I agreed, for afterall I have experienced the evils of the FYP (Final Year Project). She asked about my age, occupation, whether i heard of Zhong Tian Travel etc. As the reception was not good at my side, I "HUH!?" "Shen ME!?" "ting bu dao!?" like 10 plus times.
The phone call ended and the next day, somebody called, saying super excitedly that i won something in a lucky draw. Over at the caller's side, i can hear that it was rather rowdy, like she was in a place full of people. She asked if i was at the Zhong Tian travel fair, ren shan ren hai over there, how come i am not there, cos i have very luckily won some prize and should go down and collect.
I was puzzled why i would win some prize out of the blue and then she asked me if i recieved a call yesterday to do a survey, i said "yahhhh.........." but i thought it was strange cos the caller today was the same as the person who called me for the survey yesterday. so since she is the person who called me yesterday why is she asking me this question? Then, I concluded it was just lauya marketing gimmick to bait me down to some showroom where i will be persuaded to buy some super expensive stuff after i am given the prize. so i just said i am not free, at work, cant go down.
Then again, the next day, the same lady called me again. She said that since yesterday i was not free to go and collect the prize at a live draw which was witnessed by a certified accountant, she is here today to help faciliate the transfer of the winnings to my account. The accountant is the top ten accountant in hong kong, CHEN FU DI and he will confirm with me the the mode of payment i prefer. After i called that Mr. Chen, i have to call her back to confirm that i confirmed with Mr. Chen. Then i asked what i won, she said i won US$ 50 000. WOH HOLY SHIT! I won that much money. Then i asked again how the hell i won that prize cos yesterday i still din get it how i won the prize, then she said "HUANG XIAO JIE! 你不会到现在还不知道你是怎么赢得这个奖的吧!? *she sounded genuinely surprised* I said ya la! So she said becos of the survey i did, i was entered into a lucky draw automatically, and thats how i won the prize. Then she said "sorry, please hold for a moment, while i pick another call" I heard her talking to some other person over the phone. After her call, she started telling me about what her company does ah, that the company wants to expand into singapore ah, so blah blah blah got to do survey and lucky draw. She also asked about some personal particulars like name, birthdate, ic. i gave it to her, maybe she was trying to confirm i am the right person ma. Then she asked about the bank account no. and which bank i would like my winnings to be transferred to. I told her becos bank account no., you cant do anything with it ma, can only transfer money in.
After i put down the call and told my collegues, Angela told me it was fake la etc. Then after settling down to think about it, i thought it cant be real too cos lucky draws are mostly to attract people to purchase something. So must buy thing first then enter draw ma, no company in the right mind would enter people into mega prize money lucky draw just becos they answered a questionaire. Though there are companies who offer prizes for people who help them do surveys for their research, mostly its just like maybe 100 or 200 bucks, wun go up to 50 000. So i went to call the bank as angela suggest.
Me: sorry i gave my account no. to a dubious source, can i consult you over this
CSO: Did the source tell you you won some lucky draw?
Me: YA!
CSO: OHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh *like this was very common*
Then she told me the bank cant freeze your account or do anything actually. What she can do is to put an alert on my account which is she would not entertain any phone enquires from anybody at all including me. *like it helps* She told me to make a police report and to close my account and start a new one.
So i went to draw out all my money at the atm.
Then later during the day, the person keep calling, 9 times, but i reject all the calls.
I went home and researched on this matter online and found that there have been 122 cases of similar frauds in Singapore and they already conned 1.5 million. *my god, sibei ho tan!* This conman might be from some syndicate that have underground links with triads in Hong Kong and taiwan. That is why they are so organized and professional.
What was impressive with these conmen was :1. She said she was calling from a live event. And the background from her phone was really rowdy like she was in a travel fair. Other versions from people who received similar calls were that "there was a live telecast of the draw on Channel News Asia, you din watch!? no wonder you think its a fraud". These conmen even dare to use the name of CNA so it puts people's guard down even further
2. She sounded really excited as if i really won a prize
3. She paused during the conversation to take another call. I did not hear carefully what she was talking to the other person cos i was talking to my collegues. but according to Kenny Sia, a guy in malaysia who recieved similar calls, the person will be telling her collegue that "yah yah, i am handling the transfer of the prize money, dun worry" They really put in effort to do show for you loh, really zhuang ye!
4. Nearing the end of the call, she even wanted to explain to me what her company does and their packages and everything. Piang, like you really are from a travel agency.
5. I even recieved an sms from them on the matter that i won the draw and they even provide a website for me to check out. The website was professional looking and the links contained information! You all can check out the website at www.ztly88.com
5. The most zai thing was they called you the day before to ask you to do a survey. Yah there is no such a thing as free lunch in the world ma, but no ah, you din get da free lunch, you won the prize becos you helped us do the survey and becos you did the survey you were entered into the draw.
Actually if i have contacted the accountant as the conman told me to, the accountant would say there is a need for a transaction fee of 1500 which is 2.5% of the winnings. That i must transfer the fee over b4 they can send me the 50 000 and this 1500 will be refunded in 90 min after they recieved it. Like real man si pian zi!
http://www.kennysia.com/archives/2007/08/cheated_by_the.php
Above is another person who recieved similar calls but this person damn funny sia. He realized it was a trick so he wanted to get back at the conman and in his blog is a detailed hilarious story of what he did and he even recorded it down! Listen to the convo and you will hear how professional these conmen are.
Oh well, it was a pretty exciting experience to be ALMOST CONNED haha! Pls tell your frens and relatives about it. Though this matter has been widely publicised in the paper but i guess many people like me just took a glance at the report and did not read it carefully enough and i think the papers also did not document the conning process that carefully and these people are really good at conning. The bad thing bout getting almost conned is that i have to go draw all my money out, wah lau, jin jia ma fan leh!
