Reason 0024 : Lying, Cheating Singaporeans

An article regarding compensation for the investment losses suffered as a result of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, appeared in this morning's edition of 'Today' newspaper. In the hope of getting compensated, some Singaporeans resorted to trickery and deception in the claim process.

As written in the article,

"Some pretended to be uneducated or unemployed in low-income jobs. Then, there were those who claimed they did not understand English well."

" Others claimed to have low-incomes when in fact, they owned multi-million dollar businesses."

"Said one employee at one of the 10 financial institutions involved in selling the products: "you had complainants coming in saying their English was not good, and they needed help drafting a letter, but after you do that, they were able to point out mistakes in the letter. So, you know something is not quite right with some of them."

I understand that many of these investors are likely have suffered big losses and I think many of us would have submitted a claim anyway, hoping for a lucky break, regardless of whether we were fully aware of the risks when purchasing these products. However, the claim should be in accordance with proper procedure and mitigating reasons should then be raised during the face-to-face sessions.

However, resorting to deception and trickery, especially when many of these people are likely to be investment-savvy, well-educated individuals, is despicable and disgraceful behaviour that should be deemed a criminal offence as these are nothing short of premeditated attempts at cheating.