Scammer posing as teacher almost costs e-bike seller $25,000
A scammer posing as a teacher from Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) nearly conned an e-bike business out of thousands of dollars with a bogus bulk order.
Mobot brand manager, Mr Lai Ang, 26, told Shin Min Daily News he received a WhatsApp message on June 14 from someone claiming to be a "Teacher Huang" from HCI.
"Teacher Huang" wanted to place an order for 18 e-bikes, totalling over $22,000, and requested delivery to the school a few days later.
“Such large orders are rare, and we wanted to close the deal, so we agreed," said Mr Lai, who initially agreed to the scammer's request for payment upon delivery, despite the large sum.
However, alarm bells started ringing when Mr Lai shared news of the order with his family, who warned him about scams involving individuals impersonating HCI teachers.
When Mr Lai requested upfront payment, "Teacher Huang" sent a screenshot of a bank transfer. However, the funds never materialised.
After repeated inquiries, the scammer claimed the payment would take several hours to reflect. Then, in a sudden change of tactic, "Teacher Huang" asked Mr Lai to pay a mattress supplier $3,000 on his behalf.
"He gave the reason that the supplier and the school had a falling out, so he needed us to pay the supplier first," Mr Lai explained. "He promised to pay us for the mattresses and the e-bikes together later."
Thankfully, Mr Lai consulted his boss and, after careful consideration, they avoided falling victim to the scam.
Mr Lai added that "Teacher Huang" used a Hong Kong registered number. Since the incident, he has received several similar scam calls, all of which he ignored.
"Their accents don't sound local," he said, "but they seem to know a bit about local schools, which makes them believable."
HCI previously issued a scam alert on its website, stating that the school does not make calls from overseas. The school urged the public to ignore such calls, refrain from making payments, and avoid disclosing personal information.
This incident follows a string of similar scams targeting photographers, tailors, and contractors, with one victim losing over $10,000 to a scammer posing as an HCI teacher.
In another instance, e-bike shop owner, Mr Zhang, 53, received calls from scammers claiming to be teachers from both HCI and Ai Tong School.
Mr Zhang recognized it was the same scammer attempting to deceive him using the same tactic.
"When I questioned him about representing different schools, he played dumb," Mr Zhang said. He shared his experience with fellow business owners to raise awareness about the scam.
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