College student conned RM20,000 by escort syndicate

KUALA LUMPUR: Instead of earning extra money to pay for his college fees, a 21-year-old student ended up being RM20,000 poorer when he became the latest victim of an escort services scam.
Recalling his misfortune, the victim who wished to be known only as Jia told reporters that he got to know two individuals, Nana and PC Wong (not their real name), via a website called backpage.com.
"I got to know them on July 4 and they informed me that I can earn at least RM4,000 by just going out with women and providing certain 'services' to them.
"At the same time, they also informed me that before they can start linking me up with the women, I had to make some payment as processing fees," he said during a press conference at MCA Public Services and Complaint Bureau yesterday.
Attracted to the lucrative job offer and being told that those payments will be refunded at a later stage, Jia started transferring the requested amount into the bank accounts given to him the next day.
He ended up transferring RM19,464 to four different bank accounts allegedly belonging to the syndicate.
After failing to receive news on any potential "client" despite transferring a huge sum of money, Jia became suspicious and sought the advice of bureau head Datuk Seri Michael Chong.
Convinced that this is a scam, Chong urged the public, especially youths, to be careful and mindful of job offers they see on the Internet as he believed that there might be a huge syndicate out there targeting them.
Meanwhile, on a separate issue, Chong said a man who allegedly cheated a 32-year-old tuition teacher of RM75,000 which led to her committing suicide last week at a high-rise building in Seri Kembangan, has been arrested by the Bukit Aman Commercial Crime division at a local shopping mall yesterday morning.
Chong added that the suspect will now be handed to the Serdang district police to facilitate investigations.