https://mothership.sg/2023/07/yishun-salon-smoke/
S'porean woman pays Yishun salon S$10,000 in 'dazed & confused state', attributes disorientation to 'incense smoke' in store
A police report has been lodged.
A Singaporean woman in her 60s has lodged a police report after paying a Yishun salon S$10,000 while in a "dazed and confused state".
The woman, who asked to be referred to by the surname Ng, described herself in the police report as a "mentally weak disabled stroke victim". As she has trouble walking, she uses a Personal Mobility Aid (PMA).
What allegedly happened
In a police report seen by Mothership, Ng shared that she visited The Hairster Saloon, located at 414 Yishun Ring Rd, to get her nails done on Jul. 10.She noted that she smelled smoke when she stepped into the store, which she said caused her to be in "a dazed and confused state [...] the entire time [she] was there".
Ng claimed that a female staff started massaging her shoulders, and brought "various machines" to "do scanning" on her head.
"This was unsolicited [as] I did not want any hair services," she said. "As the staff was from Vietnam and her language was incomprehensible, I did not understand what she was talking about or what she was doing".
In about 30 minutes, the nail service was completed and a male staff member discussed packages that they had to offer, and wrote some things on a piece of paper.
Ng said she could not see what was written as she was not wearing her reading glasses.
She added that this was "very confusing" as he "quoted different prices for the packages".
Felt "cornered and coerced"
Ng said she felt "cornered and coerced" by the two staff members, who encouraged her to take up a package with them.
She claimed they spoke to her for two hours and 30 minutes "under the pretext of scanning [her] scalp to try to hard sell [her].
Ng continued:
While she said no to signing up for the packages "multiple times", they kept it up and she relented by giving the male staff her [DBS] credit card "after much persuasion and [while she was] in a state of exhaustion and confusion".
He used it for "numerous contactless payments while claiming the transactions did not go through", and later asked Ng for her NETS card.
She entered her PIN number without knowing the amount she was paying for as she did not have her reading glasses.
She received a receipt for the NETS transaction, but not for the credit card transactions.
Images provided to Mothership showed that S$1,300 was paid to The Hairster Saloon via NETS at 1:18pm.
Three transactions totalling S$8,700 were made to the company "OVERHAULCOLOURCURLCUT" with a dining Merchant Category Code.
Photo courtesy of Ng
Ng also shared a screenshot of four declined credit card transactions from the same merchant, totalling S$7,000.
According to Ng, there were a total of 13 declined transactions from the store.
The store then issued a membership card to Ng, stating that she had a balance of S$11,852 with them.
The card also stated that she would enjoy a 50 per cent discount on "every service", and she would get scalp treatment products during five visits.
Staff were allegedly "verbally aggressive"
On Jul. 11, Ng told her family about what happened, and her daughter discovered the amount of money Ng paid to the store.
Ng's daughter called the store in an attempt to speak to the management, but a lady allegedly "rejected [their] attempts to reach out to the male boss and became verbally aggressive".
On Jul. 18, DBS Bank called Ng about the "unusual transactions", and supposedly shared that there are "syndicates in Malaysia who use drugs to coerce people to hand over their money or possessions".
Ng says she has "reasonable cause to suspect the strong smoke smell [she] experienced in the shop may have been related to the use of such drugs".
Mothership has reached out for the Singapore Police Force (SPF), DBS, and The Hairster Saloon for comment.
A search online shows that Chinese media has been reporting on what is referred to as "mi hun dang" — loosely translated to "confused soul party".
Last month, Sinchew reported that a 51-year-old was cheated of RM19,000 (S$5,500) worth of gold jewellery. They noted that the victim handed over an envelope with the jewellery in it, and only realised that something was amiss after they left and "suddenly woke up from what felt like a dream".
In September 2022, 8 world wrote that a 72-year-old withdrew RM16,000 (S$4,680) and gave it to a stranger. According to the report, she was unaware of what was going on, and made a police report after she came back to her senses.
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