They were promised S$4000 to show a rich tai tais a good time and have sex with them. And there was a ready list of rich tai tai clients waiting for them. All they had to do was pay up a small fee at the start for agent’s commission and insurance.
In the end, at least 20 wannabe gigolos got caught with their pants down and wallets emptied after their middlemen disappeared.
One 30-year-old who got scammed said he first saw ads for the “male social escort” positions on local online directories Gumtree and Locanto.
He said that after he responded to the ad, the ad poster mentioned that he was helping “sugar mommies” look for young men.
He said that he was asked to pay a S$500 fee to the ad poster as a commission.
After that was done, he was introduced to a “manager”, who said that an additional S$2000 must be paid up first for “insurance”.
After forking out S$2500, the “manager” then asked for another S$1000 to make sure that the “insurance” bought was in accordance with the law.
That’s what aroused the suspicion of the gigolo wannabe.
He rejected the offer and asked for a refund on all the cash he had paid earlier, but there was no reply from the ad poster of the “manager”.
He then reported the matter to the police.
Police have received several cases of such sugar mommy scams from December 2015 to January this year.
At least 20 people have been conned of over S$26,000 in total.
