Retiree loses rM30,000 to conman

69-year-old told he had won contest

PETALING JAYA: A grocery shopping trip turned out to be a nightmare for a retired civil servant after he lost more than RM30,000 to a con artist.

Ee Hock Chuan, a 69-year-old retired senior medical assistant, said a well-built, darkskinned man approached him last Friday as he was shopping at a mall.

Ee said the man, who spoke fluent Mandarin, introduced himself as Steven Wong, a “contest department manager” of a department store in the mall. The man even gave him a business card. “He told me I was the winner of a contest organised by the department store. He checked my membership card and told me I had won a brand new car valued at RM170,000, gold ingots and a hamper,” he said.

He said Wong took him to a jewellery shop at another shopping centre and told him to buy three gold ingots worth RM25,980.

Wong then took the ingots and the receipts for the purchase, and told Ee that he would transfer the value of the gold ingots into his credit card account.

After buying the gold ingots, Ee said he withdrew RM6,500 from two ATM machines and passed the money to Wong, supposedly to pay for tax and Road Transport Department procedures before the car could be released to him.

Ee said Wong then took him to a third shopping mall and asked him to wait while he handled the release of Ee’s new car.

“I waited for 30 minutes. Then I tried calling him, but his contact number was not listed in the business card he gave me.

“It was then that I realised I had been conned. I then lodged a police report.

“I hope people will be more careful when they go shopping,” said Ee.

Police confirmed receiving the report but declined to elaborate.