Man arrested for conning public out of RM91,000 with sob story of losing close relatives to Covid-19

KOTA TINGGI: A man working at the Pengerang Integrated Complex here has allegedly cheated hundreds of Malaysians out of donations totalling RM91,000 through viral social media posts claiming he lost 14 close family members, including his wife and children, to Covid-19.

Kota Tinggi OCPD Supt Hussin Zamora said the 45-year-old suspect was arrested on Saturday (Sept 4) for allegedly spreading fake news about the death of his family members from Covid-19 to seek donations from the public.

“Police arrested the suspect when he went to the Bayu Damai police station to lodge a report to cover himself after a report was made against him for cheating.

“We found that the suspect allegedly spread fake news since June about losing 14 family members to Covid-19 in order to get donations," he said here on Sunday (Sept 5).

Supt Husin added the man's claims about going through tough times after losing many relatives to Covid-19 had gone viral on social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook.

“This is a tactic to get people’s sympathy... (so that they bank) donations directly into his bank account,” he said.

He also said the suspect was currently under remand for four days to help with the investigation under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.

In a statement, Petronas confirmed that an employee of a contractor at the Pengerang Integrated Complex has been detained by the authorities for allegedly making false claims of losing family members to Covid-19, for which the suspect has also apparently been receiving donations.

“We are extending our fullest cooperation to the authorities in their investigation.

“We wish to stress that we do not condone such misconduct by any of our employees and contractors, who are all bound by a strict code of conduct and business ethics while performing services for Petronas and its group of companies,” the statement read.