Married woman heartbroken after 'single and rich' doctor turns out to be scammer

The New Paper
Dec 4, 2023

You cannot believe everything you see online, especially if it seems too good to be true.

A Singapore shop assistant learnt that the hard way.

The woman, who claimed that her marriage was rocky, was smitten when a doctor professed his feelings for her.

He introduced himself as Juan Franklin, who was in his 40s and came from Australia. He also said he was single and rich. And based on his photo on TikTok, he was good-looking.

The duo started chatting and Juan showed a keen interest in the woman's welfare. He told her that she was the only one he could speak honestly with and that she was special to him. He did not mind that she was married and wanted to meet her.

Juan promised the woman he would fly to Singapore in December to meet her. He then showed her a video of an Hermes employee handling a Vert Criquet Epsom Birkin 30 Gold Hardware, which costs about $38,000.

"He said the bag is perfect for me because I deserve the best and most expensive bag," the woman told 8world.

THE LUGGAGE

For no known reason, Juan told the woman that he had shipped his luggage to her on Oct 31 and requested that she held on to it till they met in December.

Not surprisingly, something happened to the luggage.

The rich doctor told her that the Malaysian authorities had confiscated his luggage and he had to pay them $2,000 to have it back.

Good thing the woman felt suspicious and showed the email he sent her to a friend working at 8world. The friend identified the man in Juan's TikTok profile photo as Dr Alex George, a Welsh physician who was a contestant On Love Island. 

The woman was heartbroken that her rich doctor turned out to be a leech scammer.

Pro Tip: Google Images lets users search using photos.