Brief facts
This was a civil claim relating to a catfishing scam – a fraudster sets up a fake online profile to extract money out of people who are looking for love.
The Plaintiff (“P”) was defrauded by a person purporting to be her lover (the “Fraudster”). The Fraudster told P that he wanted to send P a “surprise gift” by courier. Subsequently, a person who alleged to be a representative of a courier company contacted P and requested her to pay various charges in relation to the delivery of the Fraudster’s “surprise gift”. All in all, P was swindled out of more than USD850,000. Unsurprisingly, the “surprise gift” never reached P.
One of the transactions was P’s transfer of US$41,550 (the “Sum”) to the bank account of the 3rd Defendant (“D3”) on 14 March 2018. The judgment dated 23 February 2022 was about P’s claim against D3 on a restitutionary basis.
D3 was a company incorporated in the Republic of Seychelles. D3 operated a trading business in the supplying of bicycle parts to customers worldwide. D3 denied any knowledge of P and the Fraudster, and denied having any connection with the Fraudster. D3 relied on its bona fide change of its position to defeat P’s restitutionary claim. D3 claimed the Sum represented a payment by its customer, Malaika Investment Limited (“Malaika”), due under an agreement to supply bicycle repair kits in the ordinary course of D3’s business. D3 further claimed that, upon receipt of the Sum, D3…
