KUALA LUMPUR: A special needs woman ventured out to go shopping on her own for the first time and ended up being tricked into giving RM12,000 in cash to two conmen.

The men are believed to be a part of a syndicate that has been cheating people by telling them that they had won a prize.

The 40-year-old woman, identified only as Chen, was at the Lot 10 shopping mall on June 19 when she was approached by the men who gave her an envelope.

A letter in the envelope said that she had been picked to win two expensive “Jade Mattresses”.

Enticed by the idea of winning the mattresses, Chen, who works as a helper at a shop, allowed the men to take her by taxi to a Maybank in Taman Sri Serdang, where they got her to withdraw RM12,000.

They then proceeded to an office where they gave her the mattresses.

Chen, who has a hearing and speech impediment, was then taken to the Sunway Pyramid shopping mall where they tried to get her to purchase gold and withdraw a cash advance using her credit card. However, due to the card's spending limit of RM1,000, the transactions were unsuccessful.

A report has been lodged at the Serdang police station.

Chen and her brother appeared at a press conference organised by the MCA Public Services and Complaints Department yesterday.

Her brother, who declined to be named, said his sister did not realise that she had been cheated until he took her to an ATM to check her account balance.

Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong said that he was appalled that the conmen would stoop so low as to target a special needs person.

“Once again, I appeal to the public to be more careful,” he said.

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