The last thing anyone expects on a day out is a scammer. Unfortunately, a few recently targeted a lady in 1 Utama and attempted to take advantage of her kindness to lighten her wallet.
On 15th March, a netizen had been about to leave 1 Utama late at night when she was stopped by a couple, who claimed to be from China, professing money problems. As it turns out, she isn’t the only one who has encountered the scheming pair.
The netizen took to Xiao Hong Shu (小红书) on 16th March to share her experience with said scammers and to warn others of them. “It (happened) around 9 o’clock last night. After having dinner with my friends, we went back to the parking lot separately. (I was) walking towards the old wing (in 1 Utama). As I was passing by the TGI Fridays restaurant, two people called out to me so I stopped.” she recounted.
The duo, a couple, claimed they had no cash on them, were only using Alipay, and were seeking a restaurant for a meal. They also added another financially-dire friend to their story who was supposedly flying in to Malaysia without any money for food or transport. Given the late timing, the netizen wasn’t sure if she could do much, but the couple dissuaded her from calling her friends for help. They insisted they only wanted to borrow some money from her.
Feeling concerned for them, she ended up forking over RM70, only to realise their ploy when they asked for more money. “The lady took the cash and pocketed it, but the man was not satisfied. He said the money wasn’t enough so we needed to go to an ATM to withdraw the money and then (he would) repay me via Alipay,” she shared. “When I heard this, I realised they were scammers.”
As it turns out, she wasn’t the only one who had been fooled by the couple. A netizen shared that they had been scammed by the same people, but fed a different story. Another claimed they had come across the same couple pulling their tricks in Mid Valley Megamall as well.
Others have urged Malaysians to be more cautious with their kindness. “People with bad-intentions think that we Malaysians are very soft-hearted and easily deceived, so more such people will appear,” they said. A few added that if anyone approached them with money issues, they should be directed to the appropriate authorities, such as the police or their consulate.
The netizen luckily managed to leave 1 Utama without further harassment, regretfully without her RM70. Still, we hope she will be more vigilant in the future, and we urge others to do the same.
Source: 小红书
