SINGAPORE - A 20-year-old woman has been arrested for a series of Carousell scams in which she allegedly cheated several victims out of hundreds of dollars each.
She listed packages for tickets to Universal Studios Singapore (USS) and hotel staycations on online marketplace Carousell at a discounted rate, the police said in a statement on Monday (July 17).
Victims met her to make payments and were told that they would get the USS tickets and staycation packages by the next day.
However, this did not happen and the suspect could not be contacted.
The Straits Times understands that at least two people were cheated in this way. The victims made police reports between July 13 and 16.
Bedok Police Division officers identified the suspect and arrested her on Sunday.
If convicted of the offence of cheating, she can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
Scammers have previously used Carousell to cheat victims in various scams, including for ZoukOut tickets and hotel room stays, Coldplay concert tickets and Jay Chou concert tickets.
The police advised the public to adopt the following precautions when shopping online:
- Make purchases only from authorised sellers, and take note of the terms and conditions of the sale;
- If advanced payments are required, use shopping platforms that provide arrangements to only release your payment to the seller upon your receipt of the item; and
- Try to arrange for a physical meeting with the seller to verify the authenticity of the tickets prior to making payment. Bear in mind that the party that you are dealing with online is a stranger.
