We get it, buying a house in Malaysia is quite difficult for an average citizen as the prices still seem to be soaring high. But not our salaries, though! We have some affordable housing schemes such as Perumahan Rakyat 1Malaysia (PR1MA) but not everyone is able to apply for one.
Source: PR1MA
So when someone says that they are able to get houses for a cheaper price, most of us would probably be very excited about it. This 31-year-old Malaysian woman took advantage of this fact and cheated 71 people out of approximately RM84,000.
Based on a report by Astro Awani, the woman known as Jenny was a married housewife and the 41-year-old victim was her friend! Last June, Jenny had told the victim that she could arrange for her to own a house in a PR1MA Pahang project without needing any documents.
Source: Malaysia Bodoh
The catch? All Jenny required was for her friend to cough up RM1,200 as a deposit and also to rope in another 70 people who were interested to own a house in PR1MA Pahang. Why does it sound like a MLM scheme? These other 70 people would also need to give RM1,200 as deposit to show that they were keen to buy the houses.
State Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Superintendent Mohd Wazir Mohd Yusof said that the initial victim managed to find another 70 people who all paid RM1,200 to her. She proceeded to pass all the money she had collected to Jenny, which amounted to about RM84,000.
Source: Utusan
After Jenny received the money in January 2018, she was uncontactable and this caused the victim to grow suspicious. Finally, the victim decided to lodge a police report at the Kuantan police station. The other victims who got scammed also came forward and the police received at least 20 reports about Jenny so far.
The police investigated on the case and on April 2, and they managed to locate Jenny at a house in Taman Tas Ria. She was arrested and brought to court where she was charged under Section 420 for cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property.
Utusan reported that entered a plea of guilty in court on April 6 and was sentenced to six years in jail.
It doesn’t pay to break the law, everyone!
Also read: Malaysian Netizen Exposes Scammer Cheating Money From Commuters in KL Sentral
