SINGAPORE – When a polytechnic student swiped right on a Tinder profile in March 2021, he was expecting to fall in love and start a relationship, but he ended up losing his hard-earned money to a love and game scam.
The 20-year-old graphic design student, who wanted to be known only as JC, said that according to the app, he had been matched with a woman named Lin Fei, a 26-year-old who works in an engineering company in Singapore.
On their second day of interaction, JC said they decided to continue their conversations on messaging and social media application WeChat.
JC told The Straits Times: “She was playful and friendly. I was just going with it and didn’t think much of it.”
He added that Lin Fei showered him with compliments and even confessed that she “loved” him.
On the same day, JC received a weblink from her to download a Chinese mobile gaming app called Xian Mo Zhan Chang, which is a romantic fantasy game, so they could have more bonding time together.
JC said that to make him continue playing the game, she would “guilt trip” him.
“She would say things like ‘I love you, I want you to play with me.’ When I refused, she would be like ‘all guys are like this’,” he said.
Two days later, Lin Fei said she wanted to meet JC at Farrer Park MRT station the next evening. They agreed to meet at 7pm.
The next day, Lin Fei wanted JC to become her in-game husband. He paid $300 through PayPal to purchase gaming credits to pay for the virtual marriage.
At 7pm, she did not turn up at Farrer Park station. Instead, she wanted JC to purchase 999 stalks of roses in the game for her before she would meet him.
“She said that I should buy the roses so that she can see my sincerity,” said JC.
After he transferred them to her, Lin Fei claimed she did not receive the total number of roses and wanted him to do it again. He borrowed $300 from a friend to purchase the gaming credits.
Between 7pm and 10pm, JC spent about $1,800 in total to purchase the gaming credits and sent the roses to her five times.