Monday, January 3rd, 2011 13:58:00
PETALING JAYA: Sometimes, helping a friend in need is not worth the deed.
This was the lesson learnt by a Labuan nurse who lost almost half a million ringgit to a man she had befriended on online social networking site Tagged in April last year.
Married with kids, Lucy (not her real name) said she began chatting with "Greg Kennedy", 40, who claimed to be an engineer working in London.
One day, Greg confided in Lucy he wanted to buy a house for his mother in Canada. "Some time in April, he told me he had also sent a gift to me."
She then received a call from Greg claiming he had wrongly sent the money for the house in a package to Malaysia.
"He was crying on the phone saying he had sent 70 per cent of his life savings to me instead of to his mother in Canada.
"I pitied him and said I would help him. I told my husband and we decided to help him as he sounded genuine."
Greg told her the money was sent to the KL International Airport some time in May last year. Then, someone claiming to be a Customs officer contacted her.
"The officer said I needed to pay a range of fees, including a declaration fee to Bank Negara, insurance, anti-money laundering fee as well as some late payment fee for the collection of the package and handling charges."
Lucy banked a total of RM60,000 into an account as instructed.
She then flew to KL in May, where she met with an African man in his 30s at a hotel in Subang. The man, Clinton Morris, who introduced himself as an agent with an affiliated office with the Customs Department, said he had Greg's money.
"I was surprised I had to go to a hotel. When I arrived and saw Clinton with the luggage, I was convinced it was Greg's."
Clinton had said Lucy would not able to collect the luggage as clearance was needed from Singapore.
Then, another man, who introduced himself as James Mattson, told her they had to go to Singapore to get clearance. "They told me they would send the bag to me in Labuan once things were sorted out."
The duo asked for extra charges, including demurrage fees as their "agency" had been holding foreign currency for more than a month, documents to be endorsed by the KL High Court and their lawyer's fees.
A few days later, the men called and told her to bank in more money into the same account for flight tickets to Labuan. "They also needed cash as a form of security and I did as instructed."
But the trip to Labuan never materialised. Lucy got another call from Mattson claiming he needed RM15,000 to bribe Immigration Department officers holding the bag.
When Lucy was unable to pay, she was told the bag had been confiscated.
Still believing Greg, who claimed to have run out of funds, Lucy paid for his flight to Malaysia. The drama continued when she received a call, supposedly from the British High Commission, of Greg's detention due to passport problems and was asked to pay for his release.
"I was so stupid to once again believe what I heard and I borrowed more money, including from moneylenders, and banked in the money as requested."
When Lucy was told Greg was being detained at the Sungai Buloh prison and that she had to pay another RM15,000 bribe to Immigration officers and the police for his release, she had enough. She had so far shelled out RM430,000 in total.
She reported the matter to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission believing government officers were involved, but was later told she had actually been scammed.
Last month, Greg SMSed her claiming to be back in UK.
"When I called him, he said he was at the clinic undergoing checks and that he would call me back, but he never did. He also began avoiding my calls."
Lucy lodged two reports on the case, which police are investigating as theft.
'I need a way out of this mess'
"I'VE lost all my money and now I have suicidal thoughts as people are asking me to pay them back but I can't.
"I took a personal loan in addition to getting help from moneylenders and friends.
"I earn RM4,000 a month and for the past four months, the moneylenders debited RM1,800 from my bank account as they are holding my ATM card."
Lucy, who has three school-going children, said: "I don't know what to do as RM430,000 is a lot of money. I can't believe I was so stupid."
She said she had thought of resigning and working overseas. "I am also concerned about my children if I go overseas. I need to figure out a way to get out of this mess.
"I just hope other people will not fall for such scams and lose all their money, just like me."
RM2mil lost to syndicates in online trickery
What the suspects usually do is approach locals and tell them they have difficulty opening a bank account and offer money to the account holder to allow their account to be used for money transfers — ACP Mohd Izany Abdul Ghany
A total of 100 cases were reported on parcel scam syndicates last year in Kuala Lumpur, with an accumulated loss of RM2 million.
City police commercial crime department head ACP Mohd Izany Abdul Ghany told
The Malay Mail police had conducted investigations into Lucy's case but no arrest has been made.
"The bank account used belonged to a foreigner but the address of the account holder turned out to be fake."
He said it was one of many tactics used by the parcel scam syndicates.
An expert in parcel scams said it is usually run by conmen from African countries.
"What the suspects usually do is approach locals and tell them they have difficulty opening a bank account and offer money to the account holder to allow their account to be used for money transfers."
The expert said such syndicates were willing to pay about RM300-RM500 to the account holder to allow money be transferred.
Another tactic syndicates used was to have a local fixer find addicts or homeless people and obtain their MyKad for a small payment in cash.
"They would open a bank account using the MyKad and abandon the account once they were done with it."
The expert said the modus operandi hardly ever changes. "It is the same year in and year out yet they still get away with it because we are so easily deceived."
Izany said parcel scam victims were usually women in their 30s and 40s.
The number of reports lodged last year increased by 50 per cent.
"The amount lost was almost the same but the number of cases increased from 66 in 2009 to 100 cases last year."
He said many fell victim to such fraud despite cases being highlighted in the media. He suspected it could be due to the way the suspects communicated with the victims during online chats.
“They are sweet talkers and always know how to get the victims to help them,” said Izany
.
The latest incident, reported on Dec 18, involved a a 38-year-old businesswoman who was conned of RM50,824 by a foreigner she met online.
The woman, in the police report, claimed she met the man on Nov 10 and he introduced himself as a doctor
from the UK working with the British forces in Iraq.
He told her he planned to open a practice in Malaysia and needed to send his medical equipment before that.
He claimed he needed to pay insurance for it but had no money at the time as it had been transferred to another bank.
He said a parcel containing a cheque for £350,000 (RM1.7 million) and £65,000 (RM311,000) in cash was supposedly on the way to the woman.
In the police report, the victim claimed the man showed an airway bill on the parcel to convince her to help him pay for the insurance and claim the parcel on his behalf.
The victim banked in several payments to help him before realising she had been conned.
Izany said police arrested 34 people last year for such scams, mostly from African countries.
“Some were charged while others were deported and blacklisted.”
He advised the public, especially women, to be wary of trusting people online.
Suspects arrested last year
