SCAM? GENUINE? « SJ Echo

Tuesday, 5 May 2009

SCAM? GENUINE?

Local charity gets offered RM100K

IT is not a daily affair for many charitable organizations to receive phone calls with offers of a RM100, 000 donations.
But an offer did come for a local charity based in Subang Jaya recently.
Officials who received the phone call were initially pleasantly surprised that their efforts were recognized by the public and with the funds more initiatives could be carried out.
The caller, a lady who introduced herself as Madam Dew (not her real name), claimed she was from Subang Jaya and had noticed the good work being carried out by the local charity.
She claimed that she needed the charity to fork out USD1, 000. She claimed it’s done this way because of the limit to the amount of money that Bank Negara will allow to be brought into the country.
That condition set off alarm bells.
Giving the offer the benefit of the doubt however, a representative of the local charity then set up a meeting with the caller.
They met at a local coffee shop in USJ where she again made her offer and conditions for the release of funds. No commitment was made by the organization’s representative. The representative promised to revert to the organization’s Board for the go ahead.
Several days later, the representative received a sms asking if the organization had agreed to proceed.
Within minutes another sms from the woman was sent asking, “Then can you lend me in ur personal capacity first? I need now RM1, 500 to take out today.”
A police report was lodged at the SS17 police station by the organization on suspicion that the woman was involved in a scam.
Police investigations proceeded and the woman was called in for a statement. During the time she was at the police station, the woman could not show proof that she had the funds she offered. Neither was she able to show proof that she belonged to any donor organization which gave out funds to other charitable organizations.
ADUN Subang Jaya Hannah Yeoh who was asked for comments on this had this advice, “I would like to warn residents to be careful with any kinds of monetary offers and not to simply jump into any deals without probing into details. Be extra cautious. If you are unsure, it best to check with the police.”
At Press time, a second police report has been lodged and it is understood the police are investigating this case thoroughly.