44-year-old civil servant Mdm Tay trusted an online seller of infant milk formula.
After all, she had bought 5 tins of milk powder from the seller last Oct and the sale went well.
Not to mention, she saved money paying 20 percent less than physical store prices.
So, she got together a group of mothers and together they bought 150 tins of milk powder from the seller.
“The first time I ordered, the seller sent the tins over and I paid them on the spot in cash. That’s why I later ordered 150 tins together with another 14 mothers and we spent S$8693 in total, with each person ordering 10 tins.”
Mdm Tay said she thought she was dealing with a husband-and-wife team and she had dealt mainly with the wife.
Initially, the seller asked for S$1500 as a deposit but 3 days later asked for the full sum to be paid.
She paid up in full because she trusted the seller the seller.
Then problems arose.
“The seller kept delaying the delivery, saying that either the car is spoilt or not petrol. One week later they said they shifted warehouse.”
But all of a sudden, the seller went missing.
She said she called and emailed the seller but received no response so she lodged a police report.
But suddenly the seller contacted her one day in January this year and said she had joined another company and asked if she still wanted the milk powder.
“Between January and March, she contacted me and asked me to pay S$300 in ‘kopi money’ and she would give me the milk powder. She said that S$300 is a small sum compared to the S$8000 I had already paid.”
Mdm Tay refused and said she had already made a police report.
But she said the seller taunted her, saying that there’s no use as without a receipt there’s no proof that the transaction took place.
