He met her on an Internet forum, he said, and was utterly charmed by the woman, who was working as a financial advisor at an insurance brokerage.
And when he met her in person, he felt he could trust her. After all, she had even won a beauty pageant.
So, although it was their first meeting, he said he agreed when she asked him to invest his money with her, promising she could make it grow.
Now, Mr Thevakumaran Balachandran, 26, a shipping agent, claims he is $20,000 poorer.
He alleged that the woman forged his signature and repeatedly reinvested his money, claiming a commission each time, a practice known as churning.
The woman and the company involved have declined comment as the police are investigating.
Mr Thevakumaran said he gave the woman his number. She called him the next day for tea at Chinatown Point.
When they met, he invested $55,000 of his CPF money in an account with the brokerage.
That day in September last year was the first and last time he met her, he said.
At first, he did not suspect anything as he received regular SMSes from her updating him on the current value in his account.
According to him, she said the money in his account had grown from $55,000 to $58,000.
It was only when he heard in April that she had cheated others that he decided to call the brokerage to check on his account.
Then, he claimed, he was told that his account had been moved to another company in October and that he had signed the papers for this.
He claimed he had done nothing of the sort.
What he heard next was even worse.
'When I called up the other company, they said I had about $39,000 in my account. I was shocked. I had lost nearly $20,000 without even realising it,' he said.
Frantic, he visited the company, where he was shown forms apparently with his signature and name on them, authorising the opening of the new account.
He had also 'allowed' the transfer of funds from one investment to another. He alleged that all these signatures were forged.
But how could he not have known about all this? Didn't he get any letters from the company?
He said he was also shown a letter, supposedly from him, asking for his mail to be sent to her address.
The signature on this, too, had been forged, according to him.
In all, said Mr Thevakumaran, eighttransfers had been made within two months.
Each time a transfer was made, he said, the financial advisor would earn a commission of 3 per cent of the total amount invested, while another 1.5 per cent would go to the company.
The commission for both parties, said Mr Thevakumaran, was taken out of his CPF money.
He said: 'It was really hard-earned money. I have been working since I was 16. I worked three part-time jobs before I went into the army, and for the last 10 years, I have been working without a break.
'$20,000 is a very big amount for me. I couldn't work and couldn't sleep because I kept thinking about what to do.
'I should never have invested money with a stranger just because she was a contest winner.'
He has since lodged a report with the police.
When The New Paper contacted the financial advisor on the phone yesterday, she denied the allegations but declined to comment further.
This article was first published in The New Paper on Aug 2, 2008.
