Man claiming to be from Taiwan tries to sell 'Omega' watch at mall
Mr Long, a 72-year-old retiree, was approached by a stranger at Westgate in Jurong East at about 4pm on Dec 19.
The stranger claimed to be from Taiwan and told Mr Long that he had lost his money at a casino, so he was trying to sell his Omega watch.
"But when I heard his accent, I did not believe he's from Taiwan," Mr Long told Shin Min Daily News.
"I asked him in Hokkien, the dialect Taiwanese are typically fluent in, when he went to gamble and how much money he lost but he could not answer and continued to chat with me in Mandarin."
"He tried to sell to me his Omega watch for $1,500 but when I looked at it, I wasn't convinced."
Mr Long kept telling the stranger that he had no money in hopes that he would be discouraged and leave Mr Long alone.
However, the stranger then reduced his asking price to $1,000. Mr Long kept repeating that he had no money and the stranger further reduced his asking price to $800, $500 and finally $30.
"He kept pushing the watch towards me and I'd move away as I didn't want to touch the watch and was even more worried about being sued if it broke," said Mr Long.
"Unable to sell the watch, the man finally tried to ask me for $10 for a meal but I still insisted that I had no money."
The stranger then thought Mr Long could not understand him, so he showed Mr Long app-translated text in English about the watch.
"I saw that the input for the translation on his phone was in simplified Chinese characters. Usually tourists from Taiwan would use traditional Chinese characters, so I thought something was off."
Mr Long suggested to the stranger to use his "Omega" watch as a collateral for a ticket back to Taiwan but the man walked away.
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