MALAY MAIL. 20TH SEPTEMBER: Police have set up a task force to further investigate a major housing and property investment scam in which victims were promised financial returns and real estate assets.
Sarawak Police Commissioner Datuk Mohd Azman Ahmad Sapri said two individuals have already been charged in a Miri court in March this year over their alleged involvement in the fraud, with their cases set for trial this November.
“The group via a company has been active since 2019. Many of the victims came across the company’s advertisement on Facebook offering to build houses for them.
“The victims were offered three schemes: the first, to build a house for the victim on the victim’s land; the second, to look for land and build a house for the buyer on said land; and three, get victims to invest in a property scheme whereby the victims would have to pay a certain amount to receive dividends,” he said in a statement yesterday.
The statement was issued following a visit Monday from Malaysia International Humanitarian Organisation (MHO) secretary-general Datuk Hishamuddin Hashim, who represented 80 of the fraud victims.
Hishamuddin, who brought the victims to the state police contingent headquarters here to obtain updates on their cases, told reporters that there were nearly 400 victims of the scheme in Sarawak, many of whom were rural folks.
One victim said he had lost almost RM300,000 to the scam after being convinced by the professional-looking representatives of the company.
Adding on, Mohd Azman said members of the group would meet with interested victims and convince them that they would look for a developer and contractor to build the houses.
“The victims then made payment either in cash or fund transfer to the company’s bank account, and only realised they had been cheated when the company failed to build their houses,” he said.
In this regard, Mohd Azman reminded the public to always carry out due diligence on any company or individual offering housing-related or investment schemes on social media.
“Do not easily believe whatever is being advertised on social media. Inform your spouse, family members or friends if you receive such offers from unknown individuals or companies,” he said.