Another Stomper receives scam call from fake SGH staff, urges more awareness for elderly
Another Stomper receives scam call from fake SGH staff, urges more awareness for elderly
Welcome to Stomping Ground - a space where Stompers share reflections, personal essays and social commentaries that spark conversation and insight.
Yet another person has come forward about receiving a suspicious call from someone claiming to be from Singapore General Hospital (SGH).
Stomper GC wanted to share her own experience after reading an earlier Stomp report on how a 71-year-old retiree outsmarted a scammer claiming to be from SGH.
The 69-year-old said she received a call on her landline on June 5 from a man speaking in Mandarin and claiming to be from SGH.
"I kept asking him to speak in English, but he insisted that in Singapore, the majority can speak Mandarin," recounted the Stomper, who is semi-retired.
"I told him, 'No, you called me, so you speak English'.
"He was unable to so I raised my voice to tell him to stop asking me to speak Mandarin."
Before hanging up, the caller made a remark in Mandarin: "这么激动干嘛" ("Why so worked up?"), which the Stomper called "a great joke."
GC said she later contacted SGH's official hotline to check if similar scams had been reported and was told that the hospital was aware of such incidents.
She was asked if she had shared any personal information with the scammer.
"I told SGH that I did not give them the chance to ask me anything as I had insisted throughout that I wanted to communicate in English only," she said.
"My objective in calling SGH was not just to check, but to urge them to raise more awareness among their patients.
"Many elderly people at home, who may only speak Mandarin, are their patients and can easily fall prey to such scams."
For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamshield.gov.sg or call the ScamShield helpline at 1799.
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