Despite warnings, people still falling for loan scams
KUALA LUMPUR: Victims of easy loan scams have been conned out of nearly RM500,000 this year, and these are just the ones who have sought help from Datuk Seri Michael Chong.
The MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head said he had met 17 victims of such scams this year.
“This is not new, but now the scammers are using different tactics, and forging bank and government licences to trick victims,” said Chong.
Lisa (not her real name), for example, received a WhatsApp message in late September offering loans with easy approvals and low interest rates.
“I was introduced by a person called Rachel, and after looking through, I applied for a RM20,000 loan to help me with some financial problems,” the personal assistant told a press conference.
Over the next two weeks, Lisa had to fork over money for “insurance” and “agreement” fees totalling RM1,550 and was shown a transaction screen stating that RM20,000 had been transferred to her.
However, Lisa discovered that no such deposit was made. Instead, the scammer told her the money had been withheld by Bank Negara.
“It was already past 6pm when they told me that, so I asked how they could find out after office hours. They said they had people inside to help them, and another lady named Wati told me to deposit RM3,000 to open a company current account,” said Lisa.
At this point, she told the scammers to keep her RM1,550 and terminate the agreement.
“A man named Peter called me up and ordered me to pay RM1,500 more to cancel the agreement.
“I made a police report the next day,” said Lisa.
Chong said he had held four such press conferences about easy loan scams to alert the public, and yet, people still fell for them.
“You need to borrow money – why are you expected to pay more?” he asked.