
"Nicole," the unfortunate victim in this scam, refused to buy a system that cost as much as a laptop. However, the clerk said that they had already paid for the "costly" licenses. She asked why other shops only charged a few hundred dollars for the system ($300 according to the original article) and the clerk claimed the licenses "were not original."
After some haggling, she was able to get the cost down to $2600. Later, her brother informed her that she had essentially been robbed. She went back to the store and demanded a refund -- but she agreed to pay $1000. When complaining to the Consumers Association of Singapore, she was denied any further help because she had already agreed to pay the store.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
8-06-2008 @ 10:33AM
pat1202003 said...
Always research before you shop. I can't believe she paid that much for a PSP.
Reply
8-06-2008 @ 12:08PM
Nate said...
The thing is, it says she KNEW other stores sold them for $300. Who the hell pays 8x what they know other people are charging? I guess they tried to scam her into thinking the other ones were black market or something? I still wouldn't pay that much without first going to the other guys and looking more closely.
Yes, scamming people is bad, but it's at least partly her own fault.
8-06-2008 @ 10:53AM
Maverick Saturn said...
Shes nuts, how much would she have paid for a PS3 then?
Reply
8-06-2008 @ 11:23AM
Ben said...
It's Singapore. I doubt she's terribly well educated. I don't know how she got that money though o.0
Reply
8-06-2008 @ 11:39AM
Paul (PSN: heypaul) said...
Are you kidding me? If you'd done as little as one minute of research (Wikipedia search, anyone?), you'd come to the conclusion that Singapore is no third world country. She was likely reasonably well educated - just not well versed in technology, similar to how you're not well versed in, say, knowledge of foreign countries.
8-06-2008 @ 12:45PM
Ben said...
Which is what I was referring to. Did I ever once say she was living in some one-room hut cooking gruel on a pot suspended over a fire? I was saying that it wasn't likely she would have known what the hell the salesman was talking about. If you would hop off your "lololol I KNOWZ ABOUT ASIA LOL!" e-penis boosting train of thought you may have considered that people other than you happen to, you know, know things.
8-06-2008 @ 3:22PM
BLee said...
that's what you were referring to? the context of your original comment doesnt come off that way, "It's Singapore. I doubt she's terribly well educated. I don't know how she got that money though o.0" So you say its in Singapore, then you doubt she's well educated without a qualifier and then you question her income or financial status..
Sounds like an ignorant comment to me..
8-06-2008 @ 5:04PM
Paul (PSN: heypaul) said...
Oh, please. Who do you think you're fooling?. You assumed that the woman was both uneducated and poor because, well, "it's Singapore." Just man up, admit that someone caught you in a spoke-too-soon-about-something-I-knew-nothing-about moment, and create a new user account to save yourself the future embarassment. And yes, many people know about Asia, just not you, evidentally.
8-06-2008 @ 5:04PM
Brice Puls said...
As a person who LIVES in Singapore, I can assure you, this woman was most likely a very well educated person. The country has a stellar educational system, and is one of the cleanest and most technologically advanced cities on the planet.
As for Lucky Plaza, I can see why this would happen there because several of those stores to deal in some rather shady business Before the crackdown on piracy here, that used to be THE place for fake Game Boy games, illegal software, and pirated DVDs. Other locations in Singapore have far more trustworthy service.
8-06-2008 @ 7:35PM
lonesomefolly said...
She was what, 41? That's your god damned explanation. There IS civilization outside the USA, believe it or not (and they don't have to pay for college).
8-15-2008 @ 3:03PM
EphemeralBlithe said...
As a lady born and raised in Singapore, i'd like to educate YOU and say that education is made compulsory by the law and that the woman in the article is most likely educated. Yes, we're an island nation but we're also a developed country with no trillion-dollar debt (unlike the states) and yes, we can speak English. I, for one, can say i speak English better than many Americans (I live in L.A. now and everyone's surprised at my fluency in the English language). We're not your typical 3rd-world or developing Asian country. Look up Singapore and maybe you'd learn a thing or 2 about how advanced our infrastructure and technology are. Sure, the woman in the article isn't very IT-savvy, but to say "It's Singapore. I doubt she's terribly well educated", displays your ignorance and lack of education.
8-15-2008 @ 11:53PM
Ben said...
Not really, no.
8-24-2008 @ 12:30PM
Acid Cake said...
Hey Ben, you know something? I'd really like to preserve the name of my country and all that shit but what you said really fucking ticks me off. The fact that you stated "It's Singapore" really pisses me off. So can I ask you something jerkwad? Have you been to Singapore? Have you conversed with Singporeans? Have you in any way been related to a Singaporean? Who the fuck are you to describe another one's country as an ineducated state, if you say no, then wtf was up with the "not really, no". You uncaring incoherent cock mucher, in the end it does not boil down to a arguement of the civility of a nation it's a fucking talk about your cold ass attitude to the outside world if you simply assume the rest of the world is like that then I'd like to see what kind of background you've hail from. Your life must've simply comprised of people living in a fucking barrier, potemkin bitch. No country is fucking perfect but Singapore does no comprise of a bunch of retarded old people, and I'll give you that, if you can't even get that into your head then shut the fuck up, stop judging people by their country and fuck off. By the way you talk it sounds like your country comprises of whining adolescents and bunch of motromouthed IT-savvy judgemental bastards. How does that sound? Just because one 41 year old lady gets scammed for a psp doesn't mean they all fucking pay 1000 for it. It's a fucking global thing getting scammed, just ask your self how man old ladies in your country have been scammed for shit.
8-24-2008 @ 2:41PM
Ben said...
A ton of them have? Well. Post succesful. Massive trolling achieved. I bet my friend 10 bucks I couldn't get my comment chain this long. Awesome.
8-06-2008 @ 11:31AM
Paul (PSN: heypaul) said...
Unfortunately, this isn't really uncommon at mom & pop shops in Asia. I bought my PSP in Hong Kong and though I got the system reasonably priced, the guy tried to sell me a standard mini USB cable for $30. When I told him I already had plenty of free standard USB cables from various other devices I had, he told me that they were all different so I should buy it anyway. I just laughed and said "No, thank you," but I wonder how many people get conned into it. Pretty different from the view of mom & pop stores in America, huh?
Reply
8-06-2008 @ 11:52AM
Kherka said...
I think that thats 1000 Singapore Dollars.
She made a wrong decision by going to that "Lucky Plaza" because opposite to the Lucky Plaza, there's Sony Center. She could have bought genuine PSP from there.
3 years ago I went to Singapore and bought one from Sony.
The real difference is cost and origin of the PSP. They mostly sell PSP-2000s that are Japanese models.
Reply
8-06-2008 @ 12:22PM
asdasd said...
LOOOOL ROFLCOPTER SHE GOT OWNED, that's way to much
Reply
8-06-2008 @ 1:09PM
greensoul said...
i cant believe Consumers Association of Singapore did not help.....it is obvisely that the shop assistant was cheating and lying to the woman in the begining.
Reply
8-06-2008 @ 4:14PM
kanauru said...
"She went back to ths store and demanded a refund -- but she agreed to pay $1000."
She already was informed that she was being ripped off but still agreed to buy it for $1000. But if she tried to get a refund and they didn't pay her back, then she could complain.
8-06-2008 @ 3:47PM
Gl4cier said...
lucky plaza, sim lim square those are the same, sometimes they just rip apart everything in box and hell they can even sell you the manual book already included in box haha
btw they will also lied to customer like the custom firmware are made by them -___-
Reply