JOHOR BARU: A 76-year-old woman who was on her way to visit her son in Singapore lost RM13,300 at the Johor Baru City Square in a scratch-and-win scam.
The victim, Chong Lee Yin, said two men approached her as she was walking along the pedestrian bridge from the Customs and Immigration Quarantine Complex (CIQ) to the mall.
“They approached me with a coupon and told me that I have a chance of winning attractive prizes,” she said.
Chong related her experience at a press conference organised by Johor Baru MCA Youth chief Kua Song Tuck.
She added that she was told to pay RM8,600 to claim the prizes she had won.
“I told them I did not have that much money with me and some of them have even followed me all the way to Singapore to claim payment,” she said.
“I had to fork out RM3,700 more as I had won big prizes,” she said, adding that the men had also asked her for an extra RM1,000 as ‘ang pow’ money which they claimed would be used as school fees.
“I gave them RM500 as they told me they were poor,” she said.
Chong added that she was given a mattresses, a leg massager, microwave oven and a water filter.
In an unrelated case, 44-year-old Ng Wai Leng alleged that she became RM14,075 poorer in a similar scam on January 17.
She said two men in their 20’s approached her and offered her lucky draw coupons and shopping vouchers which could be used at shopping malls in Singapore.
“When I received the coupons, I was told that I won a ‘special prize’ and was later taken to their office in Taman Molek,” she said.
Ng added that the men had even showed her newspaper cuttings featuring past winners.
“They showed clippings of Singaporean actors and policemen who won prizes before and I was convinced by it,” she said.
Ng added that she had forked out RM 14,075 as advance payment for the items.
Commenting on the cases, Kua said that the Johor Baru City Square had put up banners to warn patrons about the scratch and win scam around the area.
“Its one way to raise awareness among the public especially the Singaporeans who have never heard of such scams here,” he said.
The MCA Youth chief added that the number of people being duped into paying for the scratch and win scam is increasing.
He said that MCA had received around 13 complaints this month.
When contacted, police had also confirmed that reports have been lodged and the cases are being investigated.
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