Man, 49, chats with 'S'porean woman' for 3 years, loses nearly S$80,000, finds 'lawyer' for help, gets cheated out of S$10,000 - Mothership

He was scammed again when he attempted to recover the lost funds.

A 49-year-old man in Singapore reportedly lost about S$80,000 after befriending a “Singaporean woman” on Facebook and was convinced to invest in an “online store”.

The pair apparently communicated for about three years, Shin Min Daily News reported.

Li (transliterated), an engineer who is single, reportedly befriended a female user named “Yuting” on Facebook.

Yuting claimed she was a Singaporean living overseas.

She also reportedly claimed that she owned a property in Sentosa Cove.

The pair moved from chatting on Facebook Messenger to WhatsApp and communicated “on and off” for about three years.

“During that time, we would exchange greetings and look out for each other every month,” Li said.

According to Li, not long after he and Yuting started chatting, she asked if he was interested in investing together by opening an “online store” to sell goods.

He could apparently earn a 15 per cent commission.

"She said it was a drop-shipping job. I would act as a middleman, placing orders with a 'supplier' on behalf of the 'customer,' and I needed to pay for the goods in advance. After the transaction was completed, I could get the payment back and earn the commission," Li said.

Li claimed that over the three years he spent communicating with her, she purportedly urged him to invest more than once.

He was apparently initially doubtful, as he had asked for video calls and in-person meetings, but she rejected him each time.

In June 2026, Yuting reportedly brought up investing and claimed she would return to Singapore.

“I asked her to send me photos to prove she was a real person, and she really did send them, so I believed her," Li said.

Yuting apparently sent several photos of a woman, including one of her sitting in a hotel bed in pyjamas and another of her in a white dress holding a wine glass.

After much persuasion, Li purportedly opened an account in May 2026 and invested about S$80,000 within a month.

He claimed he initially placed orders as instructed and earned commissions, but kept them in the account instead of withdrawing them.

As the orders grew larger and the payments even reached tens of thousands of dollars, he put in all his savings until he could no longer afford to "take orders".

"By mid-June, I could not complete an order of nearly S$40,000, and the system showed my account had been blocked, telling me to transfer money in immediately to 'unlock' it," Li said.

To get the money back into his account, he purportedly transferred money again and completed the order.

When he later tried to withdraw the money, he was reportedly told that the specified time had passed, his "credit limit" did not meet the requirement, and he needed to top up again before he could withdraw.

Li alleged that Yuting wanted him to top up 50,000 USDT (S$63,780.51) to restore the “credit limit”.

USDT, also known as Tether, is a digital token.

It is a stablecoin designed to maintain a stable value equal to US$1.

If not, the money in the account could apparently not be withdrawn.

“Only then did I feel something was wrong and suspect I had been scammed," Li said.

Li added that he has not recovered any money and no longer dares to make friends online.

"All this was hard-earned savings. I hope Yuting will see this and return my money,” Li said.

He also shared his experience publicly to remind people to stay vigilant.

Once her ruse was found out, Yuting reportedly told Li to “do whatever you need to do” and to lodge a police report.

Li also claimed he could still log into the “online store” account in June 2026.

However, the website was no longer valid.

At that point, Li felt that his money was gone.

He sought legal assistance online and found a “lawyer” to recover the lost money.

However, Li was apparently scammed again and lost about S$10,000.

"I entered my personal details online, and a man named Christian contacted me. He claimed to be a lawyer who could help me get my money back. He even sent me a transfer record, asserting that he had moved the 60,000 USDT (S$76,537) from my account to my cryptocurrency wallet, but stated that I needed to pay a fee before I could withdraw the funds," Li said.

Li reportedly followed the instructions and transferred 7,153 USDT (S$9,124) to “Christian”.

"Christian" subsequently cut off all contact.

According to Shin Min, the police have confirmed the incident.