'We've lost more than S$100k': Singaporean woman says brother convinced family to invest in friend's failed business
SINGAPORE: A woman took to social media to express her frustration after her brother caused the family to lose over S$100,000 in a failed business venture.
Posting anonymously on r/askSingapore on Thursday (June 12), she shared that her brother had convinced the family to invest in a promising company where his close friend was the CEO and where he himself had secured a well-paying job.
Wanting to support him, the family went along with the plan and contributed a significant amount of money.
She also became personally involved after her brother asked her to help develop the company's website. He assured her that she would be compensated for her time and effort, and she agreed, believing it was a genuine opportunity.
Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. The business began to decline shortly after and eventually shut down. As a result, none of the promises were fulfilled—she never received the payment she was owed, and more significantly, the family lost their entire investment of over S$100,000.
She added that the financial damage did not stop there. 'He kept asking for more and more and more money due to lawyer fees? Does hiring a lawyer even require so much money? Our parents are worried sick for him every day and have no more retirement funds… I'm worried sick as well. I've been suggesting not to give him more money because he doesn't seem to treat us as family—more like an ATM.'
She also shared that this wasn't a one-off mistake. According to her, her brother had a long-standing pattern of taking financial advantage of their parents.
'He has always stolen or 'borrowed' money from our parents, who are in their 70s,' she wrote. 'He never completed his studies either, so he doesn't have a certificate from a public university. When he got a pretty high-paying job and started to get his life together, our parents were happy and proud. They gave him some money to buy a car, gave him some money for BTO, bought some fish, and kept them at our parents' house. All the food and space were provided by our parents.'
Despite everything, she said their parents still haven't given up on him. 'My parents keep hoping that he'll make it big. Help, it's not that I don't think he can't, but he has taken so much money.'
Frustrated and unsure of what else to do, she turned to social media to ask others for advice on how she might help her brother turn things around—and protect her parents in the process. 'Cut all financial ties with your family.'
Her post sparked a wave of responses from netizens, with many urging her to prioritise her own mental well-being and financial stability.
One said, 'Your parents can't be convinced, period. Stop trying. You can't change your brother, period. Stop trying. You only change what/who you can control, and that is you alone.'
'Cut all financial ties with your family. If your parents require your support, support them, but don't give them cash. You can buy food, pay their bills to the best of your ability, etc, if they are on the verge of suffering, but no cash. You can give any kind of support to your brother you want, except financially, but only if you want and can handle it mentally.'
Another commented, 'You need to sit down and talk all the business problems out with your brother and then get him to quit the lost cause. Likelihood is that your brother is probably not malicious, just very misguided. As for your parents, they will likely need support from you in the future, so start preparing to give your parents bigger allowances to make up for that.'
A third added, 'I think the best you can do is to advise your parents and support them emotionally. End of the day, it's their money and they can choose what to do with it, even if it means giving it to your brother. What's important is you protect yourself and your own funds.'
In other news, a Singaporean woman working at a multinational corporation has anonymously shared her growing frustration and burnout after more than a year in her current role—not because of the company itself, but due to toxic overseas stakeholders who have made her day-to-day work increasingly difficult.
According to her post on the r/askSingapore forum, the local environment is supportive, the benefits are great, and the company culture is generally positive. However, things start to fall apart whenever she has to collaborate with colleagues from abroad.
Read more: 'They are super demanding': SG woman says she's burnt out dealing with toxic overseas stakeholders
Featured image by freepik (for illustration purposes only)
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