High living costs among reasons M'sians fall for scams

SHAH ALAM: The rising cost of living is believed to be among the reasons for employees, especially those who are Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contributors, to be vulnerable to participating in various investment schemes which are illegal or dubious in nature.

A civil servant who only wished to be known as Azrul, 33, said EPF contributors were the easiest target group to approach, and they eventually get caught up in investment schemes that supposedly yield lucrative returns.

The government agency staff from Sepang admitted he was among the fraud victims of a dubious investment company, and lost about RM5,000, three years ago.

"If we look at their approach, they are targeting contributors because we have savings (money) in EPF. As a civil servant, after our service has been confirmed, we can easily withdraw money from the EPF and this was the facility which I used," he told Bernama.

Azrul said he tried to find a quick and easy way to increase his income, and with drew RM 5,000 from his E PF account to join a scheme introduced by his friend, which promised to double his investment.

"My salary as a civil servant is not high, at the time, I was looking to add to my income because I needed to pay rent for my home, to eat and drink, purchase petrol for my motorcycle and intended to get married.

“When I saw my friend talking about the scheme and investing in it himself, I became confident about it.

"Although the amount (I invested) was not too big, unfortunately, the money got burnt just like that... the investment company closed down and the agent disappeared.

“My friends and I then realised we were duped... I feel sad because I used my EPF savings for a useless investment," he said.

Another contributor, known only as Nurfadzilah, shared a similar opinion with Azrul that EPF contributors, especially the younger generation, were very enthusiastic about investing their EPF money to generate profitable returns.

"The incident occurred about six years ago, at the time when (multi-level marketing) MLMbased investment schemes were all the rage in the Klang Valley.

“I almost withdrew some money from my EPF account to join the scheme as I was impressed by the luxurious lifestyle of those who had invested in it," said the 34year-old who works as a graphic designer in a private company.