A visit to a Singapore bank cost Kiwi Peter Bannan $10,000 and a trip to the dry cleaner. The photographer was the victim of an unusual scam that involved a woman squirting excrement on to his trouser leg.
"I smelt something strong and then this woman came up
to me and said 'you stink' and she was pointing at me," he told the Herald on Sunday. "I looked down and there was what looked like shit running down the side of my leg."
The woman handed him a tissue so he could clean his leg but her generosity was just a distraction.
When Bannan looked up, he realised her male accomplice had swiped an envelope containing the cash from his bag.
He alerted the security guard at the Tanjong Pagar Plaza branch of the United Overseas Bank but the bank employee was not allowed to give chase.
The woman and her male accomplice wore hats that they pulled down low to hide their faces.
Originally from Christchurch, Bannan moved to Singapore to work as a photographer and direct television commercials and had been in town only two days. He said the bank had not accepted responsibility, only offering him a loan.
"It's worse than losing the money," he said.
Bannan arrived at the bank with $10,000 to deposit but was told to change it into Singapore dollars at a money exchange next door. He thinks the foul-smelling liquid may have been squirted on him as he walked back in.
Singapore police are investigating.
