Man arrested for haj tour scam, woman nabbed for NDP ticket scam
Promising a pilgrimage at a discount, a man who managed a local tour agency was able to convince more than 80 people to hand over a total of nearly $100,000, along with some of their passports.
The group ended up filing a police report against the man on Wednesday, after they did not receive their flight and visa details for their haj tour, which was scheduled to depart yesterday.
Officers from Central Police Division arrested the 47-year-old within hours of the report and seized several Singapore passports as well as almost $200,000.
According to a police news release, preliminary investigations revealed that he had allegedly misled the victims to believe that they could go for haj tours at discounted rates.
The police advised those who wish to perform the haj to make inquiries on haj registration directly with the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore.
In a separate incident, a 23-year-old woman who allegedly ran a Carousell scam selling JJ Lin concert and National Day Parade (NDP) tickets was arrested yesterday.
The NDP was held on Aug 9, while the first of four JJ Lin concert shows here was on Wednesday, with the last to be held on Sunday.
There have been 16 police reports made against her since last month, after victims found she became uncontactable once payment for the tickets were made through bank transfers.
The police advise those who shop online to take more precautions.
Some suggested guidelines include paying only on delivery, keeping in mind that the party you are dealing with online is a stranger and remembering that identification documents provided by sellers online could be false.
Both alleged scammers will be charged in court today with cheating.
If found guilty, they can each be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
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