SINGAPORE: When Jane (not her real name) started buying homemade dog food from pet food subscription business Bossipaws, she decided to take up a course run by the owner on planning and preparing meals for her dog.
She and her sister were later asked to pay about S$13,000 (US$10,060) for the course – allegedly so that it could chalk up enough sign-ups for the shop's SkillsFuture accreditation.
Jane said that once accreditation was approved, Bossipaws’s owner Joel Gui promised to refund the money.
“Joel told me that she was short of one person for her MOE (Ministry of Education) SkillsFuture eligibility, so she told me: ‘Could you top up one more person for me?’’” Jane told CNA.
However, SkillsFuture courses do not require a minimum number of students.
She and at least one other person have lodged police reports, alleging that Bossipaws misused SkillsFuture’s branding to deceive customers.
In response to CNA’s queries, the Singapore Police Force confirmed that reports had been lodged and that investigations are ongoing.
A SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) spokesperson said it has also filed a police report, noting that Bossipaws is not a registered training provider and has not received any funding support to conduct SkillsFuture-supported programmes.
“SSG is aware of cases where companies or individuals misuse the SkillsFuture name or branding to recruit learners, even though they are not registered with us,” added the spokesperson in a statement.
“We take a serious view of such incidents and urge anyone who suspects they may have been deceived by these companies or individuals to make a police report.”
Customers like Jane have been connecting online and on WhatsApp, claiming they fell for the same alleged scheme by Ms Gui.
One of them, who only wanted to be known as C, started using Ms Gui’s pet food subscription service after a friend recommended it.
C said that around July this year, Ms Gui approached her with a similar story – that she was trying to get accredited with SkillsFuture and wanted to provide training courses.
“She said that she just needed one more student to hit 150 students so she can make the submission to SkillsFuture … so she asked me to be her student to sign up for her courses,” C recounted.
“But (she said) I don’t need to attend the courses – I just needed to have that transaction with her. I just transferred the money to her business.”
C said Ms Gui told her she would refund her the amount after receiving accreditation.
“I just trusted her. I actually did not do any due diligence to check the requirement to get SkillsFuture accredited – I just sort of offered my help to her without knowing too much,” she added.
“And that's how I was expecting myself to get back my money in just less than a week’s time.”
But after transferring S$1,588, C said Ms Gui told her the correct amount should be S$2,588.
C then refused to send any additional money. C added that Ms Gui only proceeded with the refund after she sent a lawyer’s letter.
When approached by CNA, Ms Gui said she would comment only after investigations are complete.
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She and her sister were later asked to pay about S$13,000 (US$10,060) for the course – allegedly so that it could chalk up enough sign-ups for the shop's SkillsFuture accreditation.
Jane said that once accreditation was approved, Bossipaws’s owner Joel Gui promised to refund the money.
“Joel told me that she was short of one person for her MOE (Ministry of Education) SkillsFuture eligibility, so she told me: ‘Could you top up one more person for me?’’” Jane told CNA.
However, SkillsFuture courses do not require a minimum number of students.
She and at least one other person have lodged police reports, alleging that Bossipaws misused SkillsFuture’s branding to deceive customers.
In response to CNA’s queries, the Singapore Police Force confirmed that reports had been lodged and that investigations are ongoing.
A SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) spokesperson said it has also filed a police report, noting that Bossipaws is not a registered training provider and has not received any funding support to conduct SkillsFuture-supported programmes.
“SSG is aware of cases where companies or individuals misuse the SkillsFuture name or branding to recruit learners, even though they are not registered with us,” added the spokesperson in a statement.
“We take a serious view of such incidents and urge anyone who suspects they may have been deceived by these companies or individuals to make a police report.”
ALLEGED VICTIMS CONNECTING ONLINE
Customers like Jane have been connecting online and on WhatsApp, claiming they fell for the same alleged scheme by Ms Gui.
One of them, who only wanted to be known as C, started using Ms Gui’s pet food subscription service after a friend recommended it.
C said that around July this year, Ms Gui approached her with a similar story – that she was trying to get accredited with SkillsFuture and wanted to provide training courses.
“She said that she just needed one more student to hit 150 students so she can make the submission to SkillsFuture … so she asked me to be her student to sign up for her courses,” C recounted.
“But (she said) I don’t need to attend the courses – I just needed to have that transaction with her. I just transferred the money to her business.”
C said Ms Gui told her she would refund her the amount after receiving accreditation.
“I just trusted her. I actually did not do any due diligence to check the requirement to get SkillsFuture accredited – I just sort of offered my help to her without knowing too much,” she added.
“And that's how I was expecting myself to get back my money in just less than a week’s time.”
But after transferring S$1,588, C said Ms Gui told her the correct amount should be S$2,588.
C then refused to send any additional money. C added that Ms Gui only proceeded with the refund after she sent a lawyer’s letter.
When approached by CNA, Ms Gui said she would comment only after investigations are complete.
Continue reading...