NST : Warning! Instant riches, beauty and love are too good to be true
Uncle Yap
17 Jul 2006
Warning! Instant riches, beauty and love are too good to be true
>Wondering aloud - is the NST positioning itself as a tabloid tabloid
>with shrieking and sensational headlines.
>From the most influential paper to this?
Increasingly, conmen are targeting women who they feel are more
gullible. There are many ways they can fall victim to the silver
tongued, write ALANG BENDAHARA, AZIRA SHAHARUDDIN, RIZALMAN HAMMIM and
FADHAL ILAHI ABD GHANI.
HOUSEWIFE Lee Siew Khoon felt pity for the teenager who implored her
to fill a lucky draw coupon. He said he would get a RM5,000 commission
if she won a Toyota Altis. Lee agreed and ended up getting a water
filter and losing RM6,000.
A pregnant woman in Klang, who was taken to a bomoh to be "cleansed"
of evil spirits, ended up being raped.
Another bomoh disappeared after taking RM500 in jewellery from a
33-year-old woman in Port Dickson.
A woman was conned into parting with RM300,000 after believing that a
certain "expensive cleaning liquid" could be used to convert "black
money" into genuine US dollar notes.
And who can forget the case of the woman who had sex 51 times with a
medium, and, to add insult to injury, paid him RM20 and RM50 per
session.
The medium had allegedly told the 41-year-old woman that her financial
and domestic problems stemmed from the fact that she was possessed and
that he would gladly rid her of the evil spirits by having sex with
her.
These are but a few of the many sob stories about women who have been
duped into parting with their money, jewellery and sometimes even
their modesty.
Why are women such easy prey for con artists? Is it because they are
more gullible and naive?
Police think so.
According to police, women — especially those in the middle and senior
age group — make up the majority of victims who fall prey to the
promise of instant riches, beauty and love.
Police statistics show that almost all victims of bomohs and
scratch-and-win scams are women.
From the beautiful and smart to the ignorant, they are fair game for
confidence tricksters.
Calling this a worrying trend, Federal commercial crime investigation
department director Datuk Ramli Yusuff said ignorance and greed were
the main reason women fell victim to confidence tricksters.
He urged women to be alert when approached with offers of instant
riches and other attractive offers. He advised them to double check
before parting with their money or putting their signatures on
documents.
And if all else fails, they can turn to the police for advice and
help. They can call 03-2616-3822.
Cases involving bomohs
Victims
MOST of them are senior citizens who are easily duped as they believe
strongly in the powers of traditional medicine men.
Victims are also greedy. They believe the bomohs will be able to give
them winning numbers for a small fee.
The victims also seek out these conmen for feng shui guidance. They
are basically ignorant and are easily taken in by the suspects.
Conmen
They are not part of an organised crime syndicate. They either work
individually or in small groups. They are mostly women in the 30s who
would enthral victims with stories of how they were cured or received
instant riches.
They will then introduce the victim to the person (bomoh) who made it
happen. Then begins the victim’s nightmare.
Modus operandi
• The con-artist will approach victims with offers to read their palms
or faces.
They will put fear into the victims, telling them they will suffer
chronic illness or bad luck and that the only way to ward this off is
to hold special prayer sessions.
The victim will be asked to bring cash or jewellery to the prayer
session. During the ceremony, the suspect will wrap the valuables or
money in a piece of cloth.
The victim will be told to unwrap the cloth after several days. In
most of the reported cases, the victims found pieces of paper or
newspaper cuttings and their valuables or money gone.
• The con-artist will tell the victims they are seriously ill. They
will offer to heal them, using a "magical stone".
The stone will be placed in a glass of water and when the victims see
the water changing colour, they will believe it has magical powers and
will buy the stone at a high price, only to find out later that they
had been duped.
• The con-artist will claim to be a bomoh who is able to predict
winning 4-digit numbers and persuade victims to give him the money to
buy a ticket which the victim will not see.
Several days later, the con-artist will contact the victim to say that
the number had come out. But to get the ticket, the victim will have
to make a payment, purportedly to buy animals for sacrifice.
Lucky draws, scratch-and-win scams
Victims
These are housewives, normally alone at home. They usually fall for
the "special offers" of electrical and other household goods offered
at a below-market price.
Conmen
The conmen are youths, mostly fresh school-leavers employed by
direct-selling companies. They usually operate in groups. The groups
are controlled by syndicates.
Modus operandi
• The conmen will approach victims on the pretext of conducting a
survey on a particular product. They will then change the topic of
conversation to lucky draws or scratch-and-win contests.
Victims are offered a ticket to participate in the contest but in
order to do so, they will have to pay for the items printed on the
ticket to qualify for the bonanza prize. Victims end up paying
exorbitant fees for the items. They later find out there was no
contest.
• Victims are told they have been picked as the winner of a lucky draw
and have won motorcycles or cars. The catch is that the victims will
have to pay for insurance, road tax, service fee, registration and
other fees before they can claim their winnings.
In most cases, the victims will pay without any hesitation, only to
find out later that there is no car or motorcycle.
Numbers scam
Victims
These are usually middle-age women who are usually approached while
they are alone at the market or shopping centres. The victims buy
"winning tickets" from the conmen but end up big-time losers.
Suspects
Mostly foreigners from neighbouring countries. They work in separate
groups. This con tactic is widely used in all States.
Modus operandi
• Conmen, armed with the "winning ticket" and the day’s newspapers,
will approach victims asking for help to claim their winnings.
One of their favourite tactics is to tell the victim that since the
gaming outlets are closed for the day, they will pawn the ticket with
the victim for immediate cash.
They will also promise to pay a high interest to redeem the ticket the
following day.
• The conmen will tell the victims that since they are illegal
immigrants, they cannot cash their winning ticket. They will show
victims the winning ticket and newspaper clippings, to indicate that
the number had come out.
They will then offer to sell the winning ticket at a discounted price.
In several cases, the victims, who themselves did not have much money,
gave the suspects jewellery in exchange for the ticket.
Scam by fly-by-night companies
Victims
They are usually small-time businessmen involved in the manufacture
and supply of household and office goods. They are desperate and will
blindly go into business deals with the con-artists, thinking they
will be able to make big bucks.
Conmen
The con-artists will identify themselves as company directors. They
will invite the victims to their posh offices to impress them that
they are doing well.
They will also have many accomplices playing the role of busy office
staff.
Modus operandi
Syndicates will set up valid companies using runners or jockeys. They
will open company accounts with banks to give victims the impression
that their operations are above-board.
They will place large orders with the victims and pay them with
post-dated cheques. The victims will only realise that they have been
conned when the cheques are not honoured by banks.
By that time, the conmen would have closed shop and fled with the
goods.
+++++++++++++++++
They are victims of their trusting nature
17 Jul 2006
IVY Josiah, executive director of the Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO),
said women fell victim to con-artists because they were vulnerable.
She said women’s trusting nature could be taken advantage of by
others.
Men and mediums often used their authority to exploit a situation,
Josiah said.
Sometimes, the women had no choice as they were taken to the mediums
or bomohs by their family members.
"In my opinion, men and women are equally cheated by mediums. It is
just that there are more stories reported about women victims.
"It is also a fact that more women lodge reports against mediums than
men do."
She also said it was part of the nature of many people to trust
mediums and bomohs and think they had magical powers with which they
could heal or give winning numbers.
We asked some women if women were more gullible. This is what they had
to say:>/b>
Some women do fall easily to sweet talk by conmen. Sometimes, they
really think that the bomoh can help cure their disease or sickness.
For example, my friend sought the help of a bomoh to cure her sick
sister and had to pay RM500 every time she saw him. When the sister’s
condition did not improve, the bomoh said her sister was not cured
because she hadn’t done exactly as told.
In the end, her sister had to seek treatment from a medical
specialist. - Fazidah Anum Mapol, 33, account executive
I don’t think women are easily duped. Moreover, not all women go to
bomohs to cure diseases. As for me, I don’t go to bomohs or mediums
for treatment. I would also check out a company before investing in
it. - Vijayaletchuimi Subramaniam, 46, housewife
This is probably true of those who are not well-educated or living in
rural areas. Those living in big cities, where the level of awareness
of these things is higher, are likely to be more careful and won’t be
cheated so easily. They won’t fall for a conman’s sweet talk. - Emily
Wu Ting Ting, 38, company director,/i>
I do not think women fall for such scams more easily than men. It is
just that conmen are smart and know who to target. It is not fair to
say that women are susceptible to such scams. The conmen will only go
for people who are vulnerable, regardless of sex. - Rachel Maniam, 29,
lecturer
*************From Uncle Yap**************
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