Scammers continue to hound victim, say neither 'Michael Chong nor PM' can help her

KUALA LUMPUR: Not satisfied with cheating a woman of RM2,500 in bogus loan fees, scammers are still hounding her for additional money.

In a press conference here on Thursday (Jan 5), MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong said that the 25-year-old victim known as Wong had originally applied for a loan after responding to an online advertisement in early December.

After handing over her details and pay slip for a RM10,000 loan, she received a message that claimed to be a locally-based bank stating that her credit score was too low, and that she was required to bank in RM1,000 to improve her rating.

Communication was done through a person that introduced herself as Vivian.

Despite doing so, she was again told to send more money to help her rating, leading to another bank transfer of RM1,500.

“On Dec 16, she was told that the application was still pending. She canceled the loan as she had already resolved the issue that necessitated the loan in the first place,” he said.

However the scammers then demanded a “cancelation fee” of RM1,600, which Wong refused to pay.

Wong contacted the bank that she believed had sent her the original loan status update, but was told that they had no such application in their system.

Her plight continued as the scammers then began to harass her by constantly calling her workplace.

“The calls were so numerous that it was disturbing the office and her boss terminated her employment in late December because of it. The scammers also threatened to collect the fees from her mother,” he said.

A police report was lodged by Wong on Dec 25 but the scammers continued their threats.

At the press conference, Chong called one of the numbers linked to the scammers in front of the media.

The man at the other end of line responded at first, but after Chong informed him that he was calling following complaints, he turned silent and stopped responding.

Calls to the same number with another phone went unanswered.

Not long after the press conference concluded, "Vivian" messaged Wong again, saying that not even Chong nor “the Prime Minister” would be able to help her.