Remember the lady whose 14-mth-old baby overdosed on cough syrup? She was known as “Ian Ian”.
This same lady is in the news again but this time, she is now known as “Ashley Lee”.
She reportedly took advantage of beneficiaries who raised monies on crowdfunding platforms.
The total money involved in the scam is more than S60,000, of which $53,000 belonged to Duong Thi Hai Nhi, a 23-yr-old Vietnamese housewife living in Singapore.
Madam Hai Nhi’s baby daughter was born with Apert syndrome, a genetic disorder where the skull does not grow normally and the fingers are fused together. The surgery at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital cost about $55,000.
Ms Lee contacted her through Give.asia and advised her to have the surgery at Gleneagles Hospital instead.
She reportedly told Madam Hai Nhi to transfer the money to her so she could help settle the hospital bills. She also accompanied Madam Hai Nhi to all her daughter’s medical checkups between May and September last year.
Madam Hai Nhi raised $53,981 worth of donations on Give.asia and transferred $53,504 in batches to Ms Lee’s account between June and September.
However, Ms Lee has not been responding to Madam Hai Nhi’s call since last month.
As a result of this scam, Madam Hai Nhi had to postpone her daughter’s head surgery and operate to separate her fingers because the hospital said they did not received any deposit.
Madam Hai Nhi said Ms Lee only paid about $6,000 in hospital bills and kept the receipts.
In another case, Ms Lee went to make friends with victims on “Ian Free Milk Blessing”, a Facebook page she created, and convinced them to launch campaigns on Give.asia.
The Facebook group was set up to give free milk powder to low-income families.
33-year-old Suriyana Asmoni’s one-year-old son was born with an abnormal opening in the diaphragm and other organs as well as a milk allergy.
He requires a special milk formula that costs approx $107 a tin.
Ms Lee asked her to share about her situation on Give.asia and the campaign raised $50,000 over six months.
She managed to persuade Madam Suriyana to transfer her $5,215 in several transactions and promised to give her special milk powder at a cheaper cost.
Till now, Madam Suriyana has not received any milk powder and she has not been able to reach Ms Lee.
Something similar also happened to another lady in her 30s – she raised more than $10,000 for her online campaign to fund her toddler’s surgery and transferred a few thousand dollars to Ms Lee but did not receive any milk powder.
Mr Nizar Mohd Shariff, Founder of Free Food for All – a registered charity that gives free food to the less fortunate, also made a police report against Ms Lee.
He lent her about $10,000 but has not gotten his money back since last December.
A Facebook page named “Ian Milk Blessing Alert” has also been created to warn people about IanIan/Ashley Lee.
The Police is currently investigating this matter.
A Code of Practice for online charitable fundraising was launched last month to make sure that donations are used for their intended purposes.
Featured image: The Straits Times
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