Instead of wallowing in depression after losing S$80,000 , the 34-year-old digital content creator turned her agony into strength and built an anti-scam website to warn potential victims of the dangers posed by online crooks.
“When a new scam is uncovered, we quickly put it up to warn everyone so that we can put the scammers out of business.” After wooing her for almost two months, the man, who claimed to be a trader in Taiwan, popped the question – would you join me for an investment for our future? She says: “I googled and realised that I was a victim of the pig-butchering scam that was rampant in Taiwan then. I fell into depression. I was also heavily in debt as I had borrowed money from friends and relatives for that fake investment.The scam is dubbed ‘pig-butchering’ because the crooks view their victims as helpless creatures that can be easily led to the slaughterhouse.
“Still, it is often hard to convince people that they are being scammed. The victims often get brainwashed and trusted the scammers after talking to them for weeks or months. You can end up being stupid, just like what I went through,” she says. Ironically, being short of cash to pay for her share was how she found out it was a scam – the trading company never chased her even though she missed the payment deadline.While the first meeting may differ for other victims, Xellos says the process of the scam is always the same – gain the trust, start an investment and then vanish with the money.