One Ring, No Return

Old ghosts,new tricks--n scam and kopi at a time.

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Detective Boon Teck. Kopi shop legend in the HDB heartland of Toa Payoh, whose palette distinguished coffee grounds with panache. His mind read case files with equal clarity.

His mobile came alive with a frenetic buzz as he tried to catch some well-deserved shuteye one evening. It was a neighbourhood auntie, voice racked with tears. Her son had vanished after getting caught in a robo-investing scheme hawked on Facebook.

"Tiok Beh Pio (He won the lottery)," Boon muttered under his breath. He swirled his kopi with his teaspoon. "Put in money, kena (and got) swiped!"

He traced the robo-investing scheme to a HDB unit with an altar glowing with faux red candles. Incense ash seeped from the boy's mobile phone. On the cracked screen was a message: "Bro, she said I'll be rich if I transfer money to you."

The boy—Ah Seng—lay slumped against the wall, still warm. No scammers in sight. Only the robo-investor—a Hantu (ghost in Malay) Algo in the guise of an AI program smirking on the phone's cracked screen.

The hantu's bloodshot eyes took him in. A cruel sneer.

"Old ghost, new tricks."

Boon slammed the phone on the floor, stepping on it with energy he never thought he could muster. The phone died.

But another ping sounded from outside. Someone else had clicked on the hantu.A haunting snark.

"Yiau kui (greedy)," a hollow voice echoed.

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Detective Boon returns to bust Singapore crime --each case stranger than the last.

Original story by Michelle Liew. AI tags are coincidental