One of the things I hate the most is when elderly are being mistreated, abused, and being taken advantage of. Just like this poor old man who has been struggling for 15 years to pay his debt, only to realize he has been scammed all those time.
70-year-old Tan Soy Kiang from Singapore, had been paying off a debt over $400,000 he was told he owed from the Singaporean Government. Mr. Tan spent the last 15 years struggling, he took two jobs, borrowed money from neighbors and his elder sister just to pay his debt.
It was only just recently that it was discovered he doesn’t owe any debt, but a victim of a malicious scam perpetuated by two Singaporean women who took advantage of him knowing he was a simple-minded man living alone.
Fifteen years ago, two women approached and convinced Mr. Tan that he owes the government a huge debt which he should pay off immediately or else it would result to imprisonment. Tan trusted the women whom he had known for years and believed them. But he does not have that large sum, so he pleaded for consideration and end up in an agreement of paying the “non-existent debt” every payday. But he should make sure not to fail any payment or else he’ll be in serious trouble.
Afraid of the consequences the poor old man, who cannot even stand up straight due to a spinal injury, was forced to work as a street cleaner in the morning with a salary of $1,000 and doubles as a pump attendant from 4pm to 10.30pm earning another $1,000 monthly. Every month, one of the two women would wait near the petrol station on his pay-day or the next morning in Kim Keat Avenue to collect the money.
Though he has a monthly salary of $2,000 it was still not enough, so he was forced to hand over his $53,000 retirement savings. Tan struggled to pay off the false debt, yet no one ever noticed that something was wrong.
The deception only came to light when his niece “Pamela Lim” returned from Australia, after living there for 15 years. When she went back to Singapore, Ms. Lim was shocked at her uncle’s very poor and pitiful living condition, especially after learning he has to make a double work and discovering that he was giving every cent he earned to pay his debt.
Ms. Lim doubted his uncles’s explanations about having debts from a failed business and pressed him on until the old man finally admitted about paying the so-called “debt” to the culprits. They soon realized that he was a victim of a malicious fraud.
Immediately Ms. Lim set up a meeting with the alleged crooks and confronted them, who later confessed what they truly did. The two women promised not to extort money again from the old man and the case was settled amicably by allowing the scammers to pay $500 a month as opposed to her uncle’s $2,000 monthly payment.
But the two woman started asking money again last August, despite promising to stop their alleged extortion. Being frustrated Ms. Lim made another police report, handed over the video evidence and the police initiated investigations, before arresting one of the women for cheating.
Though 69-year-old Madam Boo Sok Hiang, one of the two women accused, claims that she is innocent and told she has been also cheated by the other woman, known only as Madam Tan of about $40,000.
The other alleged woman, Madam Tan, 65, admitted that she had initially taken the money from the old man to pay off her gambling debt incurred from playing mahjong. But she claimed she only received almost $30,000, and she was shocked to know that the total sum taken from Mr. Tan was $400,000.
Ms. Lim decided to pursue the matter in court. If they win the case, the women could face up to 10 years in jail and will be ordered to pay a fine.
Upon hearing the news about the old man, a concerned netizen named Dan Chen, 28, took the initiative and launched a fundraising campaign on Indiegogo to help Mr. Tan clear his debts from his sister and neighbors and to give him a better quality of life.
Mr. Dan Chen’s initial goal was to raise US$5,000 for Mr. Tan but after his unfortunate story went viral online, more than US$44,147 had been raised by 1,280 people on Indiegogo as of writing.
