Woman loses $67k after believing lie about 'anti-scam insurance'

A woman lost most of her savings after she believed a scammer's lie that she had mistakenly bought insurance coverage from WeChat and paid $67,500, hoping to cancel the policy.

- Nadine Chua

Ironically, the policy was called "protection from scams insurance".

Impersonating a WeChat employee, the scammer told the victim, 35, that she needed to make several transfers from her bank accounts to "authenticate" the cancellation of this policy.

Desperate to avoid paying premiums for something she did not remember applying for, she said she took out loans for tens of thousands of dollars to settle the cancellation.

The victim, who wanted to be known only as Ms Ng, has made a police report. The police said investigations are ongoing.

Speaking to The Sunday Times on Jan 3, Ms Ng, a manager at a telecommunications firm, said the scammer called her in December 2024.

He told her that she had paid for the policy on WeChat using her Trust Bank card, which she had linked to the WeChat messaging app.

Ms Ng said she believed him because she had just linked her Trust Bank card to her WeChat account, so the timing made sense.

"The scammer sounded professional and could even list the banks I had accounts with. He said money would continue to be deducted from my card if I didn't cancel the policy quickly. So I was quite anxious."

Following the scammer's instructions, Ms Ng took out a $27,800 loan from her Trust Bank account and transferred the money to the scammer.