'Kids in S'pore are easiest to kidnap': Children follow TikToker home for phone cases and toys

The New Paper
Feb 27, 2023

An Indonesia-born influencer used a rather bizarre way to highlight just how safe Singapore is when she posted a TikTok clip saying “kids in Singapore are the easiest to kidnap”.

Francesca Tanmizi, a beauty influencer who goes by her handle @workingwithmonolids on TikTok, said in the clip: “It’s just too safe here. A bunch of kids from the playground in my apartment wanted to go up with me because I had phone cases and toys to give away.”

She then explained that of the six children, “only one thought about calling his mum to let her know where he was”. 

According to Tanmizi, some of the residents in her condo form a tight-knit community, and she has many of the parents’ contacts in a WhatsApp group chat. 

At one point, when she told the kids she was texting their parents to inform them they were with her, they asked “why”. 

“Because otherwise it’s a kidnapping,” she replied half-jest. 

“But yeah, you have to put in an effort to not kidnap children here,” she said at the end of the clip.

In her caption, Tanmizi wrote that her daughter Eve “used to just sit with strangers who invited her to their table”, then included the hashtag #singaporeistoosafe. 

A few netizens in the comments section agreed with her sentiment– saying how it just wasn’t worth it to kidnap a child in Singapore.

“Kidnap a child? In this economy?” read the top comment.

@workingwithmonolids This happens too often to count. Eve also used to just sit with strangers inviting her to their table. #singaporeistoosafe ♬ original sound - It’s Evee