Family scammed of over RM622,000 in house deal

Yew (left) said the victims spent two years seeking help from lawyers before approaching the service centre.

When Oh Ngan Mooi was approached by an acquaintance to buy a house below market rate, little did she know she and her family would end up RM622,000 poorer.

She related the ordeal at a press conference at the Kepong DAP service centre.

“In 2015, an acquaintance claimed that her husband knew someone who had 10 units under the Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS) housing project and was looking to change ownership for three of the units.

“The husband acting as a middleman and the purported owner claimed they knew an inside person who could help with the change of ownership,” Oh said.

They even took Oh, 57, her husband Teh Kang Huat, 64, and daughter Annie Teh, 32, to view the house. Three of them began making payments and later received ownership documents.

They were also asked to pay for insurance, electricity bills and other miscellaneous costs.

Annie said they only noticed something amiss when it was discovered that the documents were fake.

“We went to PKNS several times for verification but only on our third visit to PKNS did an officer finally notice that the documents were fake,” she said.

“In 2016, when we went to the police stations in Selayang and Sentul to lodge reports, the police told us the same people had conned many others after seeing photos of the alleged perpetrators,” said Kang Huat.

The family still made payments even after lodging the police report.

“The scammers said if we stopped making the payments, we would lose our deposit and the house,” Annie said, adding that at that point, they still had hope that the ownership transfer would happen.

It wasn’t until they got wind of one of the alleged perpetrators being involved in a court case and saw him in handcuffs that they finally accepted that they would never own the three units.

The family spent the last two years seeking help from lawyers and politicians to no avail before finally approaching Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng.

According to Lim’s political secretary Yew Jia Haur, the PKNS housing project was first offered to settlers, with a single-storey Semi-D priced at RM99,000; and the remaining unsold units available for sale to the public who met certain criteria.

He said the police are believed to have identified the suspects in December 2016 although they had not taken any at the time.. he said he will follow up with the police for the latest update regarding the case.

Lim also announced that the service centre will be offering legal advice to the public on the first and last Saturday of every month, from 10am to 1pm at Pusat Khidmat Parlimen DAP Kepong, G-4 & 1-4, Vista Magna, Jalan Prima 1, Metro Prima, Jalan Kepong, 52100, Kuala Lumpur. Tel: [phone]