Carousell Scammer Called the Cops on Herself & Changed Usernames 3 Times to Avoid Suspicion

By
Victor Fong
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In a dog eat dog world, scammers are becoming more common, and certainly more sophisticated in their means. But scammers are not all made equal.

One scammer fell victim to “love on first sight” and broke his scam to ask if his victim was single.

One was resourceful enough to gather 200 people’s information to redeem the government’s free mask.

One went big and scammed nearly S$1 million by pretending to be a PPE supplier.

All those are small play. Simple criminals who get caught because they only know how to play 2D chess in the underworld.

For the scammer who plays 3D chess… you report yourself to the police.

Uhh. / Image: Giphy

Which sounded smart on paper.

Maybe.

Eunice Anico Liwanag, 24, a Permanent Resident and front desk executive at a radiology clinic, had a simple plan for a scam:

Selling Masks On Carousell Without Supplies

In total, she had scammed 23 people of nearly S$1,500 in the period between 28 Jan and 1 Feb 2020.

Here’s how the scam usually went. People used to want masks, right? Right.

So victims like Mr Liew Chen Wee, 39 will contact Liwanag through Carousell, asking if she had masks for sale on 30 Jan.

Liwanag then lies to Mr Liew, saying that she had them available.

But in truth, she had no stock at all.

Mr Liew then places an order for six boxes of face masks worth S$150, and Liwanag tells him to transfer the money. Mr Liew does so, but the goods don’t come.

Simple?

So now you’re asking: Wait, what if Mr Liew or any of your 22 other victims report you to the police or Carousell?

It’s easy. You report yourself to the police before anyone else does.

As you can tell, it’s clearly a foolproof plan.

Image: Imgflip

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“Unusual Money Transfers” into Liwanag’s Bank Account

On 1 Feb, she lodged an electronic police report, saying she had detected “unusual money transfers” into her account.

Naturally, the police followed up. Assistant Superintendent Wilfred Lam Wei Lun contacted her, and she said that she provided her account number for online shopping.

And to add one more layer of security, Liwanag changed her usernames three times… on the same Carousell account.

She was never caught and is, from then on, known as the Phantom Thief. Like a magician playing tricks, the police never found out that the truth is always just right under their nose, hidden under an illusion.

Or at least, that was the scenario probably playing in her head before getting arrested.

Little did she know, her 3D chess didn’t increase the difficulty, only that the chess pieces had better graphics.

Liwanag Was Arrested On 3 Feb

On 2 June 2020, Deputy Public Prosecutor Matthew Choo said that Liwanag lied so that officers would not suspect she was a scammer on Carousell.

“The accused was scared after cheating the 23 victims… and knew that she had committed an offence. Thus, she had made the false police report to divert attention and suspicion away from herself.”

Between late Jan and early Feb, the police received 23 reports of e-commerce scams regarding the sale of face masks on Carousell.

Liwanag was sentenced to eight weeks’ jail and a fine of S$3,000, pleading guilty to one count of lodging a false police report and three cheating charges involving three people who had transferred $405 in total.

Twenty other cheating charges linked to the remaining amount were considered during sentencing.

She has made full restitution to all her victims.

Each count of cheating carries a potential punishment of up to 10 years in jail and fine.

Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:

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Victor Fong
Email: [email protected]