Ministry of Law Suspends Licence of Company Owned by Couple That Scammed Over $32 Million

Buying and reselling luxury goods can be a lucrative business, if you trust the right people.

If you encountered the couple that runs Tradenation, however, it’s likely that your money has gone down the drain, never to be seen again.

Over 200 Victims and Counting

After the scam was revealed more than a week ago, numerous news outlets have reached out to the victims.

One victim, a watch collector who wishes to be known as Max, told The Straits Times that he found Tradenation on Instagram last November.

He spent $72,000 on a Rolex Daytona and it was delivered to his house in the following month. He had the watch authenticated.

In Max’s mind, this proved that the couple were the real deal, and he started to trust them. It even reached a point where he considered them as friends and would have dinner with them.

Over the next three months, he made eight more successful purchases, and sold most of the watches to make a neat profit.

In April, Max ordered two Rolex watches and a Patek Philippe for $280,000 and paid the full amount up front.

That was his biggest mistake to date.

Shortly thereafter, the couple became uncontactable.

For the last two months, he’s been worrying about the lost sum because he practically entrusted the couple with his life savings. Losing one fourth of a million is no laughing matter after all.

Ms Tan, a 24-year-old fresh graduate from a local university, also bought a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona from the couple last March, but her order never arrived.

Her story follows a similar trend: last October, she bought a $27,000 Rolex from Tradenation and it was delivered in a month. The couple lived up to their promise, so Ms Tan didn’t see any reason to distrust them when she decided to buy another Rolex watch for herself as a post-graduation gift.

It was considered a steal too; a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona typically costs around $70,000, and the couple was selling it at $62,500.

Another unnamed university graduate told Shin Min Daily News that she transferred more than $40,000 to the couple to buy branded bags, hoping that she could sell the bags for profit and pay off her tuition loan.

(If you already have $40,000 in spare cash, why didn’t you just pay off your loan with that money? Your greed precedes you, mate.) 

Another customer found Tradenation through Carousell, and reportedly paid them $78,000 for three Rolex watches.

In summary, more than $32 million in luxury goods are paid for but undelivered.

The Telegram Support Group

Judging from the accounts given by the customers who knew the couple longer, it’s evident that they were doing legitimate business at first, if only to gain their victims’ trust and go for the long con.

By the time the mid-year of 2022 arrived, the couple started to round up their victims.

In June, they created a Telegram group and pulled in all of their customers to explain the reason for the delivery delays.

There were over 200 people in the group.

The couple wrote that there were shipping delays due to the Ukrainian conflict, as well as tax issues which would require more than three months to resolve.

Allegedly, they also told some customers that the goods were already in Singapore, but they needed to wait until the customs tax was processed.

The couple told the group that they will immediately dispatch the goods to the customers as soon as they possibly could.

It feels like the couple is trying to get a head start to run.

Another victim called Mr Huang recounted that when some customers threatened to lodge a police report, the couple responded by saying that they would “only deliver the goods to those who didn’t make a police report”.

Yeah..it’s definitely an excuse.

It’s a good thing that the couple created a Telegram group for them, because their victims can rename it to “Got Swindled Anonymous” and commiserate with each other.

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The Uncontactable Couple

Now that the jig is up, the couple have gone off the grid completely.

Their Instagram page has since become private.

When Shin Min Daily News reporters visited a shop in Tanjong Pagar that was registered under the man’s name last week (11 Jul), they discovered that the entrance was shuttered.

Nearby tenants stated that the shop had stayed closed for the past four to five days.

The reporters weren’t the only visitors either, as there were more than 10 people who asked the nearby tenants where the shop owner had gone.

The neighbours of the couple at their Holland Road address told a similar tale. They hadn’t seen a wink of the couple for the past week.

They shared that the couple moved into the landed property a year ago. They seemed fairly well-off; they owned a sports car and occasionally held parties, but they rarely interacted with other residents.

The neighbours also revealed that it’s likely that the couple stopped holding up their promise to deliver the goods more than two months back, as they witnessed people coming to the house to look for the couple.

The visitors would knock on the door loudly and shout to see if anyone was home, except they would never receive a response.

Tradenation’s License Suspended

Perhaps what is more surprising is that Tradenation is actually a registered and legitimate business.

It’s the same reason why many customers chose to trust the couple.

Their business was registered as a regulated dealer, and they had a certificate from the Ministry of Law (MinLaw) to back up the claim. 

They’ve also built up a good reputation for themselves in reviews over the course of a few months. 

Given that so many victims have been scammed, a MinLaw spokesperson stepped out to clarify the details.

Firstly, Tradenation registered as a precious stones and precious metals dealer on 2 April.

Because Tradenation submitted its registration application to MinLaw while it was conducting regulated dealings, MinLaw saw no grounds to refuse their registration.

Registered deals are regulated by the Registrar of Regulated Dealers to prevent money laundering schemes and to counter the financing of terrorism purposes.

When it comes to detecting luxury good scams, the system might not be up to snuff yet. 

Ever since the police reports were filed, MinLaw has suspended Tradenation’s registration.

If Tradenation is found guilty of an offence—which they probably will be—MinLaw will terminate their license immediately.

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Featured Images: Shin Min Daily News 新明日报