Metro

Wednesday November 18, 2009

Group cheats the public with sob stories

By THO XIN YI


MAY Tan was walking towards the Kelana Jaya LRT station one morning when a boy ran up to her.

He told her he had been robbed by a taxi driver and he desperately needed money to go home.

The slightly chubby and short boy then led her into a convenience store and claimed that he had also told the cashier about his predicament.

“His story was well-planned and I was convinced. I gave him RM10 and left.

“But when walking on the pedestrian bridge later, a man approached me and warned me about the boy. He said he was conned by the boy before,” said Tan, 28.

The IT support officer said when she turned to look, the boy was talking to another pedestrian. Tan chased after him and he ran away.

A week later, Tan bumped into the boy again in front of another convenience store in Taman Mayang Jaya.

Cash aid: A woman giving some money to a boy in need.

Together with her husband, she confronted the boy who led them to the residential area to meet his aunt and return Tan her money.

It turned out that the boy was only buying time and when Tan probed further, the boy burst into tears.

He kept on emphasising that he had his reasons to cheat people and that no one would understand his situation.

The boy also claimed that he is 16, expelled from school, parents divorced and couldn’t find a job to support himself.

“We are not sure if he is telling the truth but I feel that people should be warned,” said Tan.

When she related this story to me, I recalled meeting someone similar at the same LRT station a few months ago.

It was raining heavily when I heard someone knocking on my car window.

I looked up and saw a boy, aged about 14, drenched and who appeared to be in need of help.

Cautiously, I wound down my car window and he started to talk rapidly.

“I come from Singapore and I live in Puchong now. My wallet dropped this morning but I can’t reach my mum. She is at a meeting in Shah Alam.

“I want to go home. I found a taxi driver who is willing to take me back for RM10. I have asthma and I can’t stay in the rain for too long,” he said, wiping the rain water on his face with his soaking wet T-shirt.

At that point of time, his detailed story seemed flawless to me and I was almost convinced that he was in distress.

His hopelessness aroused my sympathy – there I was, sitting comfortably in my air-conditioned car, listening to the radio as I waited for a friend to go for a movie together later.

It would not hurt to do a good deed, I thought, without knowing that he might be the conman who had been preying on people.

My colleague and reporter from StarMetro, Oh Ing Yeen, had a similar encounter.

She was at an industrial park in Balakong for an assignment when an elderly woman flagged down her car.

“She said she was here for a job interview and asked me if I was going to Seri Kembangan as she needed to catch a bus there. She added that she did not have any money and needed RM1.80 for the fare.

“I found it strange that she came looking for a job on a Sunday. I did not offer her a ride but gave her RM2 instead.

“As I gave her the money, she thanked me and said that she would return the money to me although she did not bother to get my details,” said Oh.

Another colleague, Fazleena Aziz, had a similar encounter, too.

“Some months ago, a well-dressed man walked in my house compund and wanted to see my mum.

“I thought he was a handyman my mother had hired and called her out.

“He demanded money from her for his transport fare to his village,” she related.

“Loud and rude, the man in his 30s repeatedly stressed that he was not the kind of person to beg for money and said that he was in urgent need of money.

“My mum gave him RM10 but he created a scene by complaining that this was not enough,” said Fazleena.

Petaling Jaya OCPD Asst Comm Arjunaidi Mohamed, when contacted, advised the public not to help if they suspected something amiss.

“The public can lodge a police report if they think they have been cheated but so far we have not received any such complaints,” he said.

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