Act of ‘kindness’ leaves woman retiree RM19,000 poorer
Posted on February 15, 2009, Sunday
KUCHING: A retired woman’s decision to help a stranger cash a cheque proved to be an expensive lesson after she ended up being conned of RM19,000.
The incident happened on Friday when the 60-year-old woman from Petra Jaya was approached by an unknown woman at Satok.
The latter asked if the victim could help her cash a RM90,000 cheque as she did not possess a bank account.
Agreeing to help, the victim followed the woman and her three friends in a car to a bank in Padungan, where they told her to withdraw the balance in her account as the bank would not allow such a large sum to be deposited unless it was empty.
The victim then withdrew RM19,000 from her account and was told to wait outside while the woman and her friends deposited the cheque.
Later, the group asked her to hand over the RM19,000 to them so that they could re-deposit the cash into her account.
At the end of the supposed transaction, the victim was given back her account book where she, upon checking, realised her money had not been deposited as promised.
The group, however, told her that the bank was unable to update her account book and drove her to a nearby post office where they said the updating process could be done.
However, as soon as the victim stepped out of the vehicle at the post office, the group sped off and left her standing there with the realisation that she had been conned.
The victim immediately headed to the Central police station and lodged a report.
In an unrelated cheating incident a day earlier, an elderly man lost RM10,000 to two con men who promised him a ‘reward’ for voting for Barisan Nasional in the last general election.
The 70-year-old victim from Batu Kawa was approached by the two men on Thursday morning while waiting at a Kota Sentosa bus stop.
Asked if he had voted for the BN candidate during the last election, the elderly man replied in the affirmative and was told by the two men that he would be ‘rewarded’ with a RM500 monthly payment for his vote.
He was then taken to a bank in Batu Kawa and told to withdraw money from his account, which would be needed to open a new account at a different bank in order for him to receive the monthly payment.
The victim then handed over his money totalling RM10,000 to the two men who then brought him to a nearby bank in the same area.
They told him to wait outside while they performed the necessary transaction.
He was later sent back to his house but sensed something was amiss and, after consulting with family members, realised he had been conned by the duo and lodged a police report.
Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2009/02/15/act-of-%e2%80%98kindness%e2%80%99-leaves-woman-retiree-rm19000-poorer/#ixzz2nnMzGZCo
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