IT WAS the kind of story you only come across in the movies.
A woman gets robbed and stranded without money in some part of rural China. She calls her consulate, but they never call her back.
All around her are cops, a hostel pestering her for payment, and she has nothing on but a singlet and cardigan in 13 to 20 degree Celsius weather.
Desperate, she turns to her first instinct: Facebook.
It must be her good karma that one of her friends decides to play hero and engineers a massive callout on the social network – all the way from Singapore – to save her.
Help from dozens of rescuers in Singapore poured in. They made calls to police stations, trawled satellite maps to pinpoint exactly where she was, and even called their friends in China to help.
Too good to be true?
No, that is exactly what happened this week, here in the Lion City, as I watched it play out on my Facebook network - I was a friend of the "hero".
Ms R Yeow, 27, whom I tracked down last night in China, couldn’t believe her luck. She didn’t even know the person she was staying with right now, she said.
"I was really lucky," she said. "It's amazing. I have never met most of these people before."
I am amazed too.
One of the helpers I spoke to said she had initially dismissed the SOS alert, thinking it wasn't that serious. When she realised it was critical, she pitched in.
It may not be a strategy that works for everyone though.
Some contacts may simply think you're joking – just like the boy who cried wolf – especially if you are one of those users that often post jokes or cryptic messages on their networks.
And there may be "fatigue". For instance, I doubt the same contact would drive 140km to pick up another stranded traveller that soon.
And how wide do our contact networks stretch? Ms Yeow was lucky she got stuck in China, a country which many Singaporeans have fairly close ties with.
What if this had happened in Africa? That would have severely reduced her chances of receiving help.
I'm very glad that Ms Yeow is safe and sound now, but I also think this is a "feat" that can't be repeated on a regular basis.
Dear Singaporeans, here's a pat on the back for all your help. We aren't so apathetic after all.
Do you know of other Singaporeans solving crimes or conducting rescues on social networks? E-mail the writer at serl@sph.com.sg