'I never thought I'd become a victim': How a healthcare worker lost about S$400,000 in an investment scam

SINGAPORE: A nightmare began for Ms Lim* (not her real name) in August last year, when she was added to a WhatsApp group.

What ensued was an elaborate investment scam which saw the healthcare worker lose about S$400,000 (US$316,200) in less than three months.

"I never thought I'd become the victim," she told reporters on Thursday (Jan 29). 

"Perhaps it's because we live in such a safe country, a country with such a high degree of the rule of law. How would it be possible for scammers to operate in such a country?"

Ms Lim, who is in her 50s, was no stranger to investing, having done so over the years. She has invested in various products, including bonds, unit trusts, stocks and properties.

"In my family, I was the one who set the financial goals," she said.

THE SCAM

About the same time as when she reached out to a reputable trading platform, Ms Lim was added to a WhatsApp group named "Lion Capital Circle".

There were 80 members in the group, and they all had numbers with the Singapore country code +65.

"(Everything was communicated in) English. This was to give victims the impression that they were Singaporeans, and this was in a Singaporean setting," said Ms Lim.

A person would send daily investment advice on what stocks to buy and sell, and investors would share screenshots of the trades they made and the profits they earned.

One of the rules was that members should keep things secret from others outside the group. 

"Apart from talking about stocks, they would discuss current affairs about the US economy," said Ms Lim. "You would not have felt that you were being cheated, but rather that you were in an investment course."

To add a veneer of legitimacy, the scammers claimed to have an office in Singapore and said they were working together with an investment company in Hong Kong.

"They gave us the link to check with the company to verify that the company is real," said Ms Lim.

"It was not only Singapore stocks. They also introduced stocks from Taiwan, from Malaysia. That's why for (investors) it looked very professional."

Ms Lim was convinced by the scammers to create a trading account after downloading an application from the Apple App Store.

"The platform looked even more ... easy to operate (than other platforms)," she said.

She was then asked to transfer money via a QR code to YouTrip to start the “investment”, and she did so with an initial outlay of S$3,000.

"They would ask you to buy (stocks) and you sell them at a certain time. And then you could see the profit (on the app). Everything was under the guidance of the scammer," Ms Lim said.

What made things seem more legitimate was that she was able to withdraw small sums from the amount that she had deposited.

"It was just a kind of test, to try and test if the app was functioning, if it was believable," she said. 

"VERY PAINFUL EXPERIENCE"

Over the next few weeks, the scammers built rapport with Ms Lim. 

They sent private messages to her daily, checking in on how she was doing. In the main group, investment advice continued to be doled out.

The "profits" from investments built up as Ms Lim began to transfer larger sums.

Eventually, she was convinced by the scammers to make two cash deposits of S$25,000 and S$90,000. 

After discussing with her husband, who was also convinced by the legitimacy of the request, Ms Lim withdrew the money from the bank, telling them it was for family matters.

"Somebody mentioned in the group that it is not easy these days to withdraw (large amounts of) money from the bank, given that they would ask questions," Ms Lim said. "The scammers told them what to say to withdraw the money."

Cash in hand, she met the scammers on two separate occasions, with a different man collecting the money.

Ms Lim recalled asking one of them whether it was legal to collect the amount in cash. 

"His response was: 'Who dares to do illegal things in Singapore?'," she added.

By then, Ms Lim had made about 60 transactions totalling about S$400,000 – years of savings. She believed that this amount had ballooned into an investment worth over S$1 million.

But when she wanted to withdraw some of that money, the gig was up.

"I wanted to withdraw certain amounts to get back my capital. And they said: 'You need to pay tax for this amount and so you cannot withdraw it'."

The scammers wanted S$150,000, an amount that Ms Lim could not afford. 

"I just felt helpless because I had no money to give to them," she said.

In November last year, she made a police report.

In a press release on Dec 9, the police said that since October 2025, there had been at least 20 reported cases of investment scams involving fake investment applications, with total losses amounting to at least S$1.7 million.

"The police would like to remind the public to be careful when making investments, especially when being told to download apps to create trading accounts," said police inspector Norashikin Hussein.

"Even if an investment app is available on an official app store, it might not be safe or legitimate as scammers might use such apps to promote fraudulent investment products, such as fake cryptocurrency, Forex and stocks."

While her family was shocked at first, they have been very supportive, said Ms Lim. 

"It's definitely very painful ... but I hope others will learn from my experience," she said, adding that it was her "responsibility" to speak up.