Online 'Singaporean woman' allegedly scams man into depositing $80k in crypto: 'I asked for photos to prove she's real'一名自称“新加坡女子”的网友涉嫌诈骗一名男子，诱使其存入价值 8 万美元的加密货币：“我要求她提供照片以证明她是真人。”
For three years, a man chatted online with an 'overseas Singaporean woman' he met on Facebook.Convinced by the woman, known as Yuting, to set up an online "dropshipping" shop, the man deposited close to $80,000 in less than a month.Dropshipping is a business model where the seller does not hold the physical inventory of the goods being sold.It was all...
For three years, a man chatted online with an 'overseas Singaporean woman' he met on Facebook.
Convinced by the woman, known as Yuting, to set up an online "dropshipping" shop, the man deposited close to $80,000 in less than a month.
Dropshipping is a business model where the seller does not hold the physical inventory of the goods being sold.
It was all a sham, as he discovered after the woman repeatedly asked him to top up more money.
The victim, surnamed Li, told Shin Min Daily News that Yuting had first introduced the investment opportunity to him soon after they began talking in 2023.
She repeatedly tried to induct him into the scheme several times over the years, he claimed.
The 49-year-old engineer was supposedly told he would help 'customers' place their orders with a 'supplier', who must be paid in advance.
The payment would be refunded once the transaction was done, and he would earn a commission of about 15 per cent.
Li said he had doubts about the job as the woman had declined his requests for video calls or meetings.
"This June, she brought up the topic again and said that she would be returning to Singapore soon. I asked her to send photos to prove she's real, and she did send them, so I believed her."
According to Li, the woman claimed she has lived outside of Singapore for a long time and owned a property in Sentosa Cove.
He showed the photographs of the woman to Shin Min.
In one, a short-haired woman is sitting on a hotel bed in pyjamas. Another picture is of a woman in a white dress holding a wine glass.
Asked to deposit 50,000 Tether before withdrawing money
Li claimed that the payments were indeed refunded to an account he opened for the dropshipping job, and he also received commissions in that account.
But in mid-June, he was suddenly told by the shop system that his account had been locked, and he would need to deposit more money to unlock it. He complied with the instruction.
The man said he was again asked to deposit more money into his account when he tried to withdraw money.
"Yu Ting asked me to deposit 50,000 Tether (about S$63,000)...That's when I realised something was wrong and suspected I had been scammed."
The police confirmed to Shin Min that they are investigating the case.
Li later lost another $10,000 to a 'lawyer' he found online to help recover the money in his shop account.
"He claimed that he had transferred the 60,000 Tether in my account to my cryptocurrency wallet, but I had to pay a sum of money first before I could withdraw it."
Believing the 'lawyer', Li transferred 7,153 Tether (about S$10,000) but got no response.
"The money is my hard-earned savings. I hope that after Yuting sees this will return my money," he said.
In the first sixths months of 2026, investment scam victims collectively lost $169.8 million, the highest among all types of scams.
The police said a total of 16,821 scam cases were reported within the same period, and losses totalled $410.6 million.
lim.kewei@asiaone.com
三年来，一名男子与他在 Facebook 上认识的一位“新加坡海外女性”在网上聊天。
在一位名叫玉婷的女子的劝说下，这名男子开设了一家网上“代发货”商店，不到一个月的时间，他就存入了近 8 万美元。
代发货是一种商业模式，在这种模式下，卖家不持有所售商品的实物库存。
这一切都是个骗局，因为那名女子反复要求他充值。
受害者李姓，他告诉《新明日报》，2023年两人开始交谈后不久，余婷就向他介绍了这个投资机会。
他声称，多年来，她曾多次试图拉拢他加入该计划。
据称，这位 49 岁的工程师被告知，他将帮助“客户”向“供应商”下订单，而“供应商”必须预先收到货款。
交易完成后，款项将退还给他，他将获得约 15% 的佣金。
李表示，他对这份工作有所怀疑，因为那位女士拒绝了他提出的视频通话或见面请求。
“今年六月，她再次提起这件事，说她很快就会回新加坡。我让她发照片来证明她是真人，她也发来了，所以我相信她。”
据李女士称，该女子声称她长期居住在新加坡以外的地方，并在圣淘沙湾拥有一处房产。
他把这名女子的照片拿给《新明日报》看了。
其中一张照片中，一位短发女子身穿睡衣坐在酒店床上。另一张照片中，一位身穿白色连衣裙的女子手持酒杯。
提款前被要求存入 50,000 个泰达币
李声称，这些款项确实退还到了他为代发货工作开设的账户中，而且他还在该账户中收到了佣金。
但六月中旬，他突然接到商店系统通知，称他的账户已被锁定，需要充值才能解锁。他照做了。
该男子称，当他试图取款时，系统再次要求他向账户存入更多资金。
“余婷让我存入 5 万个泰达币（约合 6.3 万新元）……那时我才意识到不对劲，怀疑自己被骗了。”
警方向《新明日报》证实，他们正在调查此案。
李后来又花了 1 万美元给一位他在网上找到的“律师”，这位“律师”声称可以帮他追回店铺账户里的钱。
“他声称已经将我账户中的 60,000 个泰达币转入我的加密货币钱包，但我必须先支付一笔钱才能提取。”
李相信了这位“律师”，转了 7153 个泰达币（约合 10000 新元），但没有得到任何回应。
“这笔钱是我辛辛苦苦攒下的积蓄。我希望玉婷看到这些后能把我的钱还给我。”他说。
2026 年上半年，投资诈骗受害者共损失 1.698 亿美元，是所有类型诈骗中损失金额最高的。
警方表示，同期共报告了 16821 起诈骗案件，损失总额达 4.106 亿美元。
lim.kewei@asiaone.com