For subscribers
Mystery prize machines open to fraud, say police
They sell idea that expensive prizes can be won, but items may not be of 'meaningful value'
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Experts say the lure of a jackpot prize is what separates the mystery prize machines from products like trading cards.
PHOTO: LIN ZHAOWEI FOR THE STRAITS TIMES
Tiffany Fumiko Tay
Follow topic:
Over the past year, visitors to shopping malls would have seen vending machines filled with plainly packaged boxes and the promise of expensive items to be won.
But contrary to their advertising, these machines dispensing mystery prizes for a fee may not stock any items of "meaningful value", the police said yesterday.
