Sunday September 19, 2010
Scratch-and-win scam leaves factory worker RM6,000 poorer
JOHOR BARU: She was told to sign a letter to win a prize. Instead, factory worker Cheah Yoke Ngoh ended up RM6,000 poorer after she was duped into joining a scratch-and-win scam. Relating her misfortune at a press conference called by Johor Baru MCA Youth chief Kua Song Tuck here, Cheah, 27, said she had taken the Aidilfitri break to visit her family in Pahang on Sept 7.
However, while at the LRT station in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, a group of men approached her to persuade her to join a scratch-and-win contest. She first rejected the offer but, at the insistence of one of the men who lamented that his sales was down, Cheah gave in.
Costly lesson: Cheah (right) looking at the police report she had lodged against the scratch-and-win syndicate. Looking on is Kua during a press conference held at the Southern Chinese press club in Johor Baru
The man, who gave his name as Xiao Long, said she needed to only sign a letter to be eligible for the prizes. She agreed to help and he took out a few envelopes, opening one of them without even asking for her permission. He said she had won a jade mattress and was also eligible for other prizes.
He then hailed a taxi and brought her to an office at Jalan Mega Mendung, near Jalan Klang Lama, where he said she could claim her prize. Another man at the office, however, said she had to fork out RM6,000 to claim her prizes. She added that the man had told her that they would not take her money but needed to copy the serial number of her money to find out if she would win other prizes.
“I agreed to their request and took out RM6,000 as I wanted to know if I had won other prizes. “However, while one of the men was explaining the deal to me, Xiao took my money without even bothering to give me the jade mattress I had purportedly won.
“I later confronted Xiao about it and he merely told me to bring up the matter with his boss,” she said, adding that Xiao also offered to sell the mattress for her. Cheah has since lodged police reports at Raub in Pahang and Taman Ungku Tun Aminah here. Johor Baru (North) deputy OCPD Supt Mohd Akhir Ishak said Cheah’s case has been referred to the Petaling police station.
