SINGAPORE, May 9 -- Mike Chen didn't plan on staging a takedown during his exchange programme in Singapore - but when scammers came knocking, he turned the tables.

According to The Straits Times (ST), the 20-year-old Chinese student was nearly conned out of $70,000 (RM230,000) in a government official impersonation scam, one of over 1,500 such cases reported in Singapore last year.

Victims of these scams reportedly lost S$151.3 million in 2024 alone.

It started in February when a man claiming to be a Chinese investigation officer contacted Chen, accusing him of being linked to an international money laundering case.

The caller demanded constant video surveillance via laptop and five daily check-ins by text. The monitoring lasted a mon...