Student loses over RM20,000 in GRO scam

A 21YEAROLD student who applied to be a male guest relations officer (GRO) was cheated of more than RM20,000 by a syndicate, major Chinese dailies reported.

The student, known only as Jia, said he decided to apply for the job through an online advertisement as he wanted to earn some side income, Sin Chew Daily reported.

After paying the RM5,894 processing fee requested by the person in charge, Jia was not able to contact her.

A few days later, Jia came across another woman known only as Nana on the same website, who persuaded him to join her “team” as the GRO and promised to get his money back from the first “company”.

Jia then borrowed RM15,000 from six friends and told his parents he needed RM4,464 to pay his school fees, when in reality he had to pay Nana to get the “job”.

But Jia never did get the “job”. Realising that he had been cheated, he decided to seek help from MCA Public Service and Complaints Department chief Datuk Seri Michael Chong.

Jia, who did not dare tell his parents the truth about his situation, said he might have to stop schooling as he had no money left to pay his school fees.

> Kwong Wah Yit Poh reported that a man accidentally locked himself in a luxury car while trying to steal valuable items from the vehicle, which was parked at an open car park in Jinan, China.

The suspect panicked when he failed to open the door after numerous attempts, as the temperature inside the car was high due to the hot weather.

Luckily, the suspect managed to find the car owner’s contact number and called him for help.

Police rushed to the scene and found the suspect weak and dehydrated. He was given water before being sent to the hospital for treatment.