THE SCENARIO
I got a call last evening telling me that I’ve won a lucky draw prize because of a survey I filled up on xx March (I can’t remember the exact date that I was told) at Orchard Road. The caller (on private phone number) said that the company had done a similar survey on Orchard Road and about 5000 people had responded. She verified my particulars with me (a Singapore PR, Project Executive, age). She told me that I’m one of the 20 lucky people who have been chosen to win a $1000 shopping voucher. The voucher is free, there’s no obligation, and on top of that, I won some other fabulous prizes as well (which I couldn’t remember because she talked real fast, like reciting or reading out from a note). She told me it will be a 90-min affair where I will learn about other priviledges that are not mentioned to here through phone. I need to confirm whether I can attend because there is going to be a dedicated person to attend to me. The prize collection venue is Rolex Building (in between Paragon and Lucky Plaza), #18-02.
THE SUSPICION
1. I can’t remember myself filling up any survey in Orchard Road.
2. I asked whether I can bring along a friend to accompany me. She said no because it is an exclusive event, there are a lot of people outside who had done this survey but not given the chance.
3. When they called again today at about 4+ to remind me about the collection, they have given me a code MJ08. They claimed that the guard at the building will not let anyone in unless I give them the code. There will be a person to attend to me.
4. They called me 4 times at about 730pm (the time that I promised I will appear) - 2 times with private phone number, 2 times with known numbers (6438 1238 and 6438 1598).
THE OUTCOME + THE RATIONALE + THE LESSON
After talking to several people, and thanks to their unbelievable uttering of “Please don’t tell me for one moment you think it’s real…”, I didn’t go to the place. BUT, I want to emphasise that I also won’t go anyway because I can’t bring anyone to accompany me! Rolex Building is like some scary ghostly building in Orchard to me!
The 4th time they called, Shruti picked up the phone and talked to them. They insisted that they will wait for me no matter how late I work until. And then we went to Tangs Vivo. Although we were shopping around, I knew secretly she’s wishing for them to call back again so that she could scold them real hard. Haha. She even mentioned that we should go report police if they call again tomorrow.
I was slightly ashamed of myself for “thinking one moment” that I’ve been so lucky. I didn’t want to talk about this openly actually, because I know I will be teased and laughed at like hell. But out of curiosity, I googled “Rolex Building Singapore” and found some results. After reading those, I think I should blog about it to warn other potential people of this scam.
Just remember, there’s no free lunch in this world. But if you have time to spare, I guess 90mins won’t hurt. After all, the callers or the person who is going to attend to you might be puppets who just want to earn a living.
Read about other posts about similar scams:
http://www.singaporebikes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=112820
http://sgforums.com/forums/14/topics/303019
http://forum.channelnewsasia.com/ (too long so I took out the dynamic bit)
http://www.singaporebrides.com/forumboard/messages/3/481084.html?1209837526
