Listen: How a love scammer sweet-talks his victim, then tries to gaslight her

The following is the English translation of the conversation in Mandarin. This edited recording is provided by the Global Anti-Scam Organisation (Gaso). 

Scammer: Hello.

Victim: Yes.

Scammer:  I’m finally hearing my wife’s voice. (Laughs) 

Victim: How are you doing? 

Scammer: Why is your voice so soft?

Victim: I’m still not feeling very well. 

Scammer: (Sighs) What do you want me to say?

Victim: It’s OK.

Scammer:  Wifey, why are you eager to get back to work?

Victim: It’s OK.

Scammer: Rest for two more days.

Victim: I just happened to have an operation. 

Scammer: (Sighs) Even though you have an operation, you shouldn’t have to rush there this afternoon. Is your boss not aware of your situation? 

Victim: He knows. It’s OK.

Scammer: Even though he knows, he’s still asking you to go to work … does he have any compassion? 

Victim: It’s OK. It’s already been arranged, and it’s only half a day. So it’s still all right.

Scammer: Wifey, it might only be half a day but I hope that you will recover fully before you go back to work, OK? Look at yourself, initially you were recovering pretty well. After you went out for an afternoon, now you’ve come back in this state.

Victim: It’s OK.

Scammer: I can hear that you’re having difficulty breathing, right?

Victim: Yes. Baby, I’ve got something to ask you.

Scammer: Yes.

Victim: The investments you gave me.

Scammer: Yes, what about them?

Victim: The bank called me to tell me that I cannot transfer money to them.

Scammer: What does this mean, baby?

Victim: They only said that this is a scam, and asked me not to transfer any money.

Scammer: (Laughs) Why did they think this is a scam?

Victim: I don’t know.

Scammer: This… has absolutely nothing to do with that, wifey.

Victim: OK.

Scammer: How could this be? I’ve been working in this sector for 4 years.

Victim: Yes. I know. (Sighs) You’ve been doing this for so long so it’s hard for me to caution you, but I think you should really take note.

Scammer: No wifey, I’ve never encountered any problems. And I feel that my uncle has more experience than anyone else in this aspect.

Victim: But now because...

Scammer: (Interrupts) He’s been in this field…

Victim: (Interrupts) They’ve frozen all my accounts and want to run an investigation.

Scammer: Frozen? Investigation?

Victim: Yes.

Scammer: This is getting more and more outrageous.

Victim: So right now all my accounts have been, I can’t transfer and  how do I say it … I can’t do anything. (Sighs) I am also very vexed.

Scammer: How can this be? 

Victim: I don’t know.

Scammer: This I…(trails off) 

Victim: It just so happened that they called me today.

Scammer: Today?

Victim: Yes.

Scammer: It’s not like we are laundering money or something. Why do they suspect us?

Victim: I don’t know. Right now … I am also still waiting for them to figure it out and investigate first.

Scammer: My baby, is it that serious? Besides, all the money that I make is clean - it’s all after taxes. 

Victim: Yes. My problem is that … they wanted me to tell them how I transferred, and how I got hold of these accounts, so I showed them. Then they said, that I can’t transfer money there. This platform can’t…

Scammer: (Interrupts) Perhaps in your case…if I can guess, this could be because Singapore has regional restrictions for such online investments.

Victim: Yes.

Scammer: Because I have understanding of this. The platform does not support some countries and places, some exchanges outside.

Victim: Yes.

Scammer: Like in the US, it also can’t be used in some states. Like Hawaii, and New York. Maybe it’s because your country rolled out some local digital currency so there might be restrictions on external exchanges or such trading revenue platforms entering the country.

Victim: It’s OK, I will hold off investing for now.

Scammer: Yes, figure it out first then.

Victim: Yes.

Scammer: OK. We can speak again after you figure it out.

Victim: (Sighs) All right. My chest hurts a little.

Scammer: (Sighs) Wifey.

Victim: Is it OK if I go get some rest?

Scammer: OK OK, go rest up then.

Victim: OK. Bye.