On a late Saturday night around 10 PM, I received a call from someone claiming to be from xxx. She mentioned that I would be receiving free gifts for a campaign I had supposedly participated in. The only problem? I had no idea such a campaign even existed.
As we spoke, the caller asked for my postal code. That set off alarm bells in my head—why would xxx need me to provide this if they already had my information in their system? (Which they should, right?) I rejected the request outright, telling her that if she was truly from xxx, she should already have my details. She didn't argue and ended the call.
A week passed, and as expected, no "free gifts" were delivered.
"Most probably a scam," I told myself.
Then, out of the blue, on a weekday evening around 9 PM, the same number called again. This time, the caller said the delivery had been delayed and would now happen next Tuesday.
"Hey, maybe it's real after all?" I briefly wondered.
She then attempted to schedule a time for the delivery, casually slipping in that there would also be a "15-minute sharing session about CPF matters." (Ah-ha! This must be an insurance agent who somehow got hold of my number.)
Curious to see where this would go, I decided to play along and agreed to the timing.
The next day, I reached out to my servicing agent and xxx to check if there was any such campaign. Both confirmed that there wasn’t and warned me to be extra cautious as it was likely a scam.
Sure enough, on Tuesday at around 3 PM, I got a call from an unfamiliar mobile number. I was hoping it was a job recruiter, but nope—it was of another lady.
After confirming she was speaking to me, she went straight to the point:
"So Mr. Soh, we meet up later at 5 PM, ok?"
Nicely, I told her that I already had an agent servicing me.
She then tried to act sweet, saying, "You really don’t want to meet me, ah?"
In my mind: (SLAP you. I'm not interested!) 😝
So now, not only do they try to lure you in with "free gifts" at roadshows inside shopping malls, but they also have people calling you, pretending to arrange a delivery, just to meet up and push their sales pitch.
Business must be really slow, huh?
Key Takeaways:
✔️ Be wary of calls offering free gifts from unknown campaigns. ✔️ Never share personal details over the phone with unverified callers. ✔️ Always verify with the official company before agreeing to any meetings. ✔️ Scammers often disguise sales pitches as free giveaways.
🚨 Have you received similar calls? Share your experience in the comments! 🚨
