A Narrow Escape?

Ok, I just saw an email and it actually disturbed me quite badly. Ah.. blame me for not checking my email regularly. But it's not entirely my fault... you see, for a busy person like myself, you'll tend to check emails with important keywords like “Urgent”, “Exams” etc. and give little notice to emails that tell you about fruit juice or such (but hey, dun try to title all ya emails with 'Urgent' the next time you email me hor, I'll go crazy!)

So now back to the email that I've just seen, it's titled “Do Not Talk to Strangers”. I also dunno how I'll actually bump into this email, cos most of the time I'll just delete it. To summarise, it warned us to beware of strangers esp. Chinese Nationals cos these people try to conjure up images in our mind to hypnotize us. A hypnotized person has no idea of wat he/she is doing or thinking and might follow the order of the person conjuring him/her. There are some claimed encounters in the emails reciting of how some women had narrow escapes. So you must have guess it... I was approached by a China man last Friday night...

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I was walking home alone on that night at bout 11 pm along the usual route that I always take. A lightly dimed quiet route but with a busy road at the side. After just a few steps away from the MRT station, I was stopped by this properly-attired, middle-aged, decent-looking China man. I knew he was from China once he spoke but I thought he was planning to ask me for directions, so being the kind Singaporean, I actually paused my footstep for him to ask me. However, the first question from him was to borrow money from me. And he continued to tell me pitifully and urgently about how badly he needed the money cos he claimed lost his credit cards or so. He said he needed the money to eat. And he kept promising to me that he’ll return it to me the next day, as by then his family members would have joined him in Singapore. He kept pestering me for my contact number so that he can personally return the money to me the next day. He sounded really serious and actually took out his phone to prepare to punch my number in. Of cos, I refused to give him my contact. So instead, he gave me his name card. He told me that he has a company in Shanghai and I can visit him if I go to China. At that time, I was quite confused. I was analyzing the whole situation and thinking whether I should lend him the money. But anyway, I only had $5 left in my wallet. I know that there’s a possibility that he's a fraud. On the other hand, wat if his situation is real? In the end, I decided to lend him the money so that I can get out of this dilemma. I just tell him honestly that I only have $5 left and that's all. He thanked me gratefully for the money before asking me another question: “Do you have any idea how to go to kalong (meaning Geylang)?”

I almost fainted. I feel like bursting into angry flames from where I was standing. Why on Earth he wanna go kalong? He lent money to go kalong to hire prostitutes? But, I thought I might be thinking too much. Perhaps his hotel is there(which doesn't sound any better)? Or go there eat(the famous frog porridge or laksa, then isn't that a bit extravagant)? I feel like snatching my $5 note from his hand. While thinking of all these angry thoughts, I occupied him with answers like "hem...", "I'm not very sure". In the end, I just tell him I'm not sure and perhaps he can just get there by taxi bah. That's before I know I made a BIG STUPID mistake. This prompted him to ask me the third question: “huh? Then this amount of money won't be enough. Can you lend me more so that I can take taxi?” In my head, I was like “WHAT!!!! Still dare to ask money from me?” I just plainly replied that I had no more money left. AND know what he asked next? “Can you draw from the ATM machine in the MRT station?” I concluded that this guy is no simple person. How can a foreigner be so sure that there are ATM machines in that particular station unless he have been observing that place or know it well? I'm not going to be a fool again, so I just simply answered that I don't have ATM cards for that particular bank (although I have). That left him dumbfounded. With that, I quickly rushed home.

I told my parents the incident. I got scolded for giving him the $5. I told roger, also kena scolded by him for being so naïve. I was very depressed with this whole issue that night.

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So that's Friday's incident, which I can still vividly remember. Now looking at this email, it gives me a creepy feeling. It is described in the email that the man “is very decently dressed, normal guy on the street, maybe late 30s, carrying a rather big shoulder sling bag”. This fits the exact description of the man that I met!! If the man I met is really a fraud, is he trying to hypnotize me so that he can cheat more money from me? Is he asking me directions to go kalong so that he has more time to hypnotize me? Wat if I got hypnotize at that time and I actually follow him to kalong? The more I thought about what could possibly happen to me, the more uneasy I got. But LUCKILY, I'm safe and sound. I really thank God that nothing happened to me. It's in times like this that you feel the power and importance of God. But sigh, if only I saw the email earlier, I wouldn't have lost that $5 note. Take it as a lesson then, with a worth of $5. Fyi, I still have his name card to remember this painful incident. I can bring for you to see if ya interested.

Conclusion:

1. DON'T TALK TO STRANGERS ESP. FOR GALS!

2. Check your emails early, important or not important.