Sponsored News of Zoe Tay Retiring is Fake & Police Report Would Be Made

By
George Yang
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In my world, there are only a few influencers: Zoe Tay, Fann Wong, Christopher Lee, Li Nanxing, 715 and sometimes, Maria Ozawa.

After all, these are real talents who don’t need to post high-SES images of themselves enjoying the high life to gain followers: we follow them to find low-SES images of them.

And their star powers haven’t gone unnoticed by people from the dark side, because all of a sudden, we’re seeing a headline like this on Facebook:

We Say Goodbye to the “Queen of Caldecott Hill” Zoe Tay

No, our favourite Ah Jie isn’t retiring. In fact, you would be seeing more of such fake news, so read on and be vigilant, because it’ not a case of Rebecca Lim, but an identity theft instead.

Zoe Tay Clarifies She’s Not Retiring

As you can probably tell now, someone had just started a website and posted this fake news.

The post was sponsored in Facebook, so apparently that someone even paid money to Facebook just so that this “article” was seen by more people.

In the article, it alleged that Zoe Tay was quitting showbiz and has started a skincare business. Needless to say, you can buy the products on the website.

It’s so legit (or maybe, so fake) that the product was mentioned in international publications such as The New York Times and Today (the US one, not the Singapore one). In fact, it even correctly called Zoe Tay our “Ah Jie” (something that only locals would be able to relate to).

There were even testimonials that looked so fake legit, your auntie who’s 50 might just buy it to look 20.

But of course, it’s all fake, and our Ah Jie has responded with this: “I would like to thank everyone for their concerns, but I would like to state that I am not retiring. I really enjoy my work and have no desire to retire. The news of my retirement is completely fabricated and I believe my fans will not fall for it. I am currently holidaying with my family overseas and this has not affected my mood. I look forward to my next project upon my return. I would also like to remind the public to read news with discernment.  We must learn to read news carefully and seek clarification from credible source when necessary.”

True. Just take a look at her Instagram and you’ll understand.

Mediacorp would be filing a police report on behalf of our Ah Jie.

Now, if this feels somewhat familiar, you’re not alone: it’s because it’s not new.

In fact, celebrities and even billionaire Peter Lim have been a victim of this identity theft that seems to be getting worse in recent years.

Fraudsters Faking Endorsement of Celebrities to Sell Products

Just three months ago, we wrote about a fraudster claiming that Li Nanxing endorsed some bitcoin thingy—and just earlier this morning, sponsored posts about Li Nanxing “endorsing” it still appeared in my Facebook newsfeed.

In other words, despite real celebrities debunking the fraudster and perhaps even having the website / post removed, these fraudsters would continue to steal identity.

According to a report, the fraudsters would either get people to sign up for a free trial, and with your credit card number keyed in, they’ll apply a subscription that’s difficult to cancel (sounds like the Bitcoin thingy).

Either that, or people would buy the so-called products and never receive anything (sounds like this skincare thingy).

It’s not just in Singapore but all over the world, and the modus operandi is the same: fake an endorsement from a popular figure and scam.

But here’s a burning question: why do they keep appearing even after they’ve been reported and removed?

Low Cost of Barrier for Website & Facebook Ad

If you’re not into web development, you might think that a website would cost thousands of dollars to develop. Nothing’s further from the truth.

To develop a website that looks legit, you simply need $50 or even less. Web-hosting only cost more if traffic is high, and as for the design, there are free templates for you to choose from. Heck, you can even just port the design of a reputable website to gain trust (which is what the fraudsters are doing).

And as for the domain name, $10 is all you need.

For Facebook Ads, you can even set a budget of $1 if you like. In other words, if the product you “sell” is $100, you just need to scam one person to make a tidy profit.

It’s like a scam that doesn’t take much effort—if one site and page is down, simply create another one in minutes.

What Should We Do?

The fake stories would keep on appearing, so the best solution is to educate yourself about fake news. NLB has a campaign called “S.U.R.E.” to fight fake news—here’s what each letter means:

Source: Look at its origins. Is it trustworthy?

Understand: Know what you’re reading. Search for clarity.

Research: Dig deeper. Go beyond the initial source.

Evaluate: Find the balance. Exercise fair judgement.

But overall, the easier way is to be critical about what you read online: if it says that Zoe Tay is retiring, don’t believe at the first source. Make sure it’s reported in one more source to verify its claim.

Or you can just go to the Goody Feed app daily lah. We cannot anyhowly write because if we write something wrong, our resident cat would pee on our face (actually, if we get something wrong, we’ll be bombarded with lots of emails).

So I’ll see you tomorrow~

Watch this for a complete summary of what REALLY happened to Qoo10, and why it's like a K-drama:

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George Yang
Email: [email protected]