Update: Scammers Arrested
– Posted by Lee Shi Qing

Image: Arrested – CCTV Image of the 2 Scammers 

13th September 2019, Singapore – We posted a Scam Warning about 11 days ago ago about a pair of scammers who are going around to scam others under the pretext of trying to rent camera equipment with the intention of not returning & reselling these equipment later. If you have not heard about it, you may read it here.

Timeline at a glance: 
27th August 2019
– Scammers rented a telephoto lens from our Rental Department.

28th August 2019
– Scammers collected the lens from us.

30th August 2019
– Scammers supposed to return the rented lens, but disappeared.
– A Police Report made.

31st August 2019
– A Whatapps with the Scammer NRIC went out to our network of Rental & Used Camera Shops.
– One of our Used Gear Merchant Partner Responded, the scammers had sold one of the looted lens just minutes before our whatapps.
– Merchant Shared that these guys have a lot of equipment with them.
– Merchant later released a CCTV images of the 2 scammers.
– A Facebook post was created and mass-sharing started.
— Continues below.

Image: Mobile Screen Grab of the post about the scammers. 

From 1st Sep to 6th Sep 2019 
– Many victims had stepped up & contacted us.
– We consolidated all the information from the netizens and forwarded to the Police.
– Many past victims had also surfaced and gave us many vital information.
– Citizen Policing had dug out a lot of past history of the scammers.
– Post went Viral with many Social Media Sites, Facebook Groups & Facebook Pages helping us to share the post. (We listed at the bottom of this article)
– Local Newspaper ran the news.

Image: The hunt is on – from online to offline.   

07th September 2019
– We were informed by the Police that the case had been referred to Commercial Crime Division, Singapore Police Force.
– A new IO had been assigned.
– We were given advisory messages from the new IO.
– Our FB Post had reached closed to 100,000 people excluding personal shares.
– Our Web Post had reached closed to 280,000 people excluding shares.

08th Sep to 11th Sep 2019
– Under investigation by CCD.

12th September 2019
– We received a call from the IO informing us that it was not just a pair of petty thieves, but a Scam Syndicate! (Organized Crime).
– And the good news, they had cracked down on the Syndicate and had arrested all the individuals.
– We were given green light from the Police to release this article.

This article not only serves as a closure, but the beginning of the aftermath of the scammers’ wrong doings. There are lots of equipment to be recovered, a lot of ownership disputes is going to follow and cash – if there’s any left. While the whole syndicate of idiots are waiting to be charged in Court, the Police has a lot to do.

Some advise from us – 
If you are renting out your equipment as an individual:
– always make sure meet the person at a place with CCTV.
– always take photo of their NRIC. 
– always collect a deposit worth 50% of the gear value. 
– If photo on NRIC is different or deposite not given, do not rent out. 

But of course, we highly recommend NOT to rent out as an individual as the risk is very high. Gear Rental companies are covered by Insurance and are better covered should such incident surfaced. And running an online business without a registered company (with ACRA number) is also illegal in Singapore. Although the Authorities are not too strict (yet) on online businesses especially those that operates off Carousell, eBay & Facebook – and with Black sheeps delivering scams – it will be a matter of time before it is tightly regulated.

**SPECIAL TANKS to these Awesome FB Groups & FB Pages**
Grab, Go-Jek and Taxi Matters Singapore,
50 Shades of Singapore
SG Kay Poh
Singapore Taxi Driver
Singapore Share-Share
Wed’Inc
BLACKLIST THEM!
We Love Singapore

Also
– Thanks Singapore Press Holdings (Lian He Zao Bao) for running the News on Chinese Media.
And
– ALL NETIZENS who had stepped up to give us information and by Sharing our post. We would not have reached so many people within such a short time without everybody’s help & kind assistance!
Lastly
– Thanks Central Police Division & Commercial Crime Division for investigating and finally arrested the whole syndicate.

So what to do if you suspect a Scam or had been approached by Scammers?

1) CALL ANTI-SCAM HELPLINE: 1800-722-6688

2) VISIT SCAM ALERT SITE (By POLICE)

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Contributing Editor – Lee Shi Qing

A firm believer of Self-Sufficient living and gives no f**k to anyone getting in her way to reaching her goals in life. Kind in nature & Dangerous when provoked. Loves Mcdonald’s Fries and hates all the burgers there. While she helps out in gear reviews, Qing is currently serving as an Online Administrator for Ourshutterjourney.com Facebook Groups and Online Shop.

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