Interpol alerted as couple go missing after allegedly failing to deliver $32m of luxury goods
Published by The Straits Times on JUL 19, 2022, 6:20 PM SGT
At least 180 reports have been lodged since June against a couple who allegedly failed to deliver luxury goods to customers, said the police on Tuesday (July 19).
The Straits Times understands the undelivered items, which are mostly watches, are worth at least $32m.
In response to ST’s queries, a police spokesman said the reports were made against two companies, Tradenation and Tradeluxury.
He added: “The complainants alleged that they made advance payments for luxury watches or luxury bags to the companies, which failed to deliver them.”
The police arrested a 26-year-old Singaporean man on June 27 for his suspected involvement in cheating offences.
His passport was impounded and he was released on bail the next day, pending the completion of investigations, said the police.
His wife, 27, was also assisting the police with investigations and surrendered her passport to the police on June 30. The couple subsequently became uncontactable.
ST understands the woman is a Thai national.
The police said they arrested a 40-year-old Malaysian man last Wednesday who had allegedly helped the couple in leaving Singapore on July 4.
The man was charged last Friday (July 15) with abetting another person to depart Singapore illegally.
The police spokesman added: “The police are working closely with foreign law enforcement counterparts to trace the couple and the criminal proceeds.
“Warrants of arrest and Interpol red notices have been issued against the couple.”
Those convicted of cheating can be jailed for up to 10 years.
The Ministry of Law had told ST on Tuesday morning that Tradenation was registered as a precious stones and precious metals dealer on April 2.
“Registered dealers are regulated by the Registrar of Regulated Dealers only for anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism purposes,” said the ministry spokesman.
Tradenation submitted its registration application to MinLaw as it was conducting regulated dealing and at the point of registration, there were no grounds to refuse the registration, said MinLaw.
The spokesman added: “MinLaw has suspended Tradenation’s registration due to the ongoing police investigations. As police investigations are ongoing, we are unable to comment further.”
ST spoke to 10 victims, aged between 24 and 52, over the past week.
They had paid between $20,000 and $280,000 for luxury goods that were never delivered to them.
One victim, 48, who declined to be named, forked out $280,000 – a majority of his life savings – for two Rolex watches and a Patek Philippe watch.
He had planned to sell both Rolex watches for a profit but they never arrived.
Another victim, 24, spent $62,500 on a Rolex watch as a post graduation present for herself.
She told ST that she trusted the couple as she had made a purchase with them in October last year.
“代购”奢侈品闹失踪 夫妻潜逃出境遭通缉
联合早报发布于 2022年7月19日 7:07 PM
被指帮200多人代购总值超过3200万元名表和名包后闹失踪的夫妻，警方证实两人已在7月4日潜逃出境。警方已对夫妇俩发出逮捕令和在国际刑警组织发布红色通缉令。
新加坡警察部队回复《联合早报》询问时证实，警方在7月13日逮捕了一名40岁的马来西亚籍男子，据悉他帮助这对夫妇在7月4日离开新加坡。警方已在7月15日，以抵触移民法令的罪名将男子控上法庭。
警方说，当局从6月至今，共接获至少180起报案，指他们分别向两家公司Tradenation Pte. Ltd.和Tradeluxury Pte. Ltd.预付了购买名表或名牌包的款项，但这两家公司过后却没有交货。
警方在6月27日逮捕了一名26岁的新加坡籍男子，他涉嫌诈骗。男子在6月28日获准保释，但警方扣押了他的护照，以待进一步调查。男子的27岁妻子也在协助警方调查，并在6月30日向警方交出护照。不过，这对夫妇随后失去联系。
警方正与外国执法部门密切合作，追查这对夫妇及其犯罪所得。警方已对夫妇俩发出了逮捕令和在国际刑警组织发布了红色通缉令。
Singapore woman files police report after mistakenly paying S$40 cash for a COD package via Ninja Van
Published by mothership on August 13, 2020, 08:40 PM
New scam from oversea coming to Singapore.
A woman, Peng XueLin, took to Facebook page Complaint Singapore on Aug. 12, 2020 to share her experience regarding a cash on delivery (COD) item she received via Ninja Van.
She had allegedly received a COD package via Ninja Van and was asked to pay S$39.
However, she realised that she did not order the product only after she had paid the money.
Peng was busy and on a work call at that time when a COD package arrived via Ninja Van.
The delivery personnel told her that she had ordered a package on COD and would need to pay cash.
Seeing that the delivery personnel was tired, she quickly passed her S$40 and asked her to keep the change.
She said:
“Out of good heart I hope all delivery person get a tip from time to time.”
However, she felt that something was wrong, as she did not order a COD item.
After opening the package, she realised that she had received a beauty mask.
She contacted the delivery personnel within five minutes to inform her about the wrong delivery, but was advised to contact the seller.
However, she was not able to figure out who the seller was, and could not find any receipt or order form regarding the delivery in her email.
In her post, Peng also highlighted the fact that the same mask she received was priced at just S$5.48 online.
On Aug. 13, Peng updated her post to add that she was being targeted to be scammed once again, as she received an SMS informing her that she had yet another COD delivery and would be required to pay S$58 for it.
Peng has since filed a police report, and said she understands from the delivery personnel that the higher-ups in Ninja Van would be informed.
According to Peng, the police have also called to inform her that they will be investigating the matter and that this is “not a common case”.
She also said that she is willing to cover the cost of the delivery, but hopes to recover the remaining amount.
In response on the post, a number of commenters also claimed they were asked to pay COD for packages they did not order.
In response to Mothership, a spokesperson from Ninja Van said that they are trying to contact Peng and have launched an investigation into the matter.
Ninja Van will work with the police to facilitate all police investigations and are now processing the refund for her.
The spokesperson also explained that Ninja Van does not know the seller’s information as they received the parcel for last-mile delivery from a shipping consolidator of international parcels.
However, they have since informed the shipping consolidator of the issue.
Ninja Van advises customers, should they face any problems with their parcels, to contact them directly via:
support_sg@ninjavan.co
Tel: 66028271 (Mon-Sat, 8am to 10pm)
Live Chat (Mon- Sat, 9am to 9pm)
View the original post here.
新加坡女子错误地通过NinjaVan物流公司支付了40新元的货到付款包裹后提交了警方报告
翻译自mothership发布于2020年8月13日，晚上8:40
来自海外的新骗局已经来到新加坡。
一位彭雪玲女士于2020年8月12日登陆脸书投诉页面，分享了她通过NinjaVan物流公司收到货到付款包裹的经验。
据称她通过NinjaVan物流公司收到了货到付款包裹后，并被要求支付39新元。
但是，她只有在付款后才意识到自己没有订购产品。
当NinjaVan物流公司送来货到付款包裹时，彭当时很忙，正在工作。
送货人员告诉她，她已经订购了货到付款包裹，需要支付现金。
看到送货人员很累，她很快就递交了40新元，并要求她保留零钱。
她说：
“我衷心希望所有送货人员准时到达下一个目的他。”
但是，过后她觉得出了点问题，因为她没有订购货到付款项目。
打开包装后，她意识到自己收到了一个美容面膜。
她在五分钟内联系了送货人员，以及告知她送货错误，但他建议联系卖家。
但是，她无法确定卖家是谁，也无法在电子邮件中找到任何与交货有关的收据或订单。
在她的帖子中，彭还强调了一个事实，即她发现收到同一口罩在网上售价仅为5.48新元。
8月13日，彭更新了帖子，并补充说，她再次遭到诈骗，因为她收到一条短信，通知她她还有另一笔货到付款包裹，需要为此支付58新元。
彭自此提交了警方报告，并说她从运送人员那里了解到，NinjaVan物流公司的高层将被告知。
彭说，警方还打电话通知她，他们将对此事进行调查，这“不常见”。
她还说，她愿意承担运费，但希望能收回剩余的款项。
在对帖子的回复中，许多评论者还声称，他们被要求为未订购的包裹支付货到付款。
作为对Mothership的回应，NinjaVan物流公司的发言人说，他们正试图与彭联系，并已对此事展开调查。
NinjaVan物流公司将与警方合作，协助所有警方调查，目前正在为她处理退款。
发言人还解释说，NinjaVan物流公司不知道卖方的信息，因为他们从国际包裹的运输商那里收到这最后一英里的包裹。
但是，他们已将事件通知了货运公司。
NinjaVan物流公司建议客户，如果遇到包裹问题，请直接通过以下方式与他们联系：
support_sg@ninjavan.co
电话：66028271（周一至周六，上午8点至晚上10点）
实时聊天（周一至周六，上午9点至晚上9点）
在此处查看原始帖子。
BEWARE OF SCAM NOW DELIVER TO YOUR DOORSTEP
This scam is actually very cleverly worked out that you will not suspect of anything wrong:
The following is an account of the incident.
《Wednesday a week ago, I had a phone call from someone saying that he was from a company called: “Express Couriers,” He asked if I was going to be home because there was a package for me that required a signature .
The caller said that the delivery would arrive at my home in roughly an hour. Sure enough, about an hour later, a uniformed delivery man turned up with a parcel and a bottle of wine. I was very surprised since there was no special occasion, and I certainly didn’t expect anything like it. Intrigued, I inquired as to who the sender was.
The courier replied, “I don’t know, I’m only delivering the package.”
Apparently, he said the sender would want to give you a surprise and a card would be sent separately, it happened that my birthday was on the way also, so we thought could be from a distant friend. There was also a consignment note with the gift.
He then went on to explain that because the gift contained alcohol, there was a $7.50 “delivery/ verification charge,” providing proof that he had actually delivered the package to an adult (of legal drinking age), and not just left it on the doorstep where it could be stolen or taken by anyone, especially a minor.
This sounded logical and I offered to pay him cash. He then said that the delivery company required payment to be by credit or debit card only, so that everything is properly accounted for.
He added they also don’t carry cash to avoid loss or likely targets for robbery.
My husband, who by this time was standing beside me, pulled out his credit card, gives to him to swipe the card on a small mobile card machine with a small screen and keypad and asked to key in the verification code.
Frankly at this point we never suspect anything ad normal and a receipt was printed out and given to us, he then wished us good day and went off as normal,
To our horrible surprise, between Thursday and the following Monday, $5000 had been charged/withdrawn from our credit account at various ATM machines.
Apparently the “mobile credit card machine,” which the delivery man carried had all the info necessary to create a “dummy” card with all our card details, of course with the verification code.
Upon finding out about the illegal transactions on our card, we immediately notified the bank to stop payment, but already too late.
We went to make a Police report, and was confirmed quite a number of households had been similarly hit.
WARNING: Be wary of accepting any “surprise gift or package,” which you neither expected nor personally ordered, especially if it involves any kind of payment as a condition of receiving the gift or package. Also never accept anything if you do not personally know or there is no proper
Identification of who the sender is.
Above all, the only time you should give out any personal credit card information is when you yourself initiated the purchase or transaction!
PLEASE Pass this on, it may just prevent someone else from being swindled.