JOHOR BARU: A 55-year-old man has been arrested and charged here in connection with more than a dozen housing scams.
Johor police chief Comm Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat said the man was arrested in October and charged early last month under Section 411 of the Penal Code for dishonestly receiving stolen property.
“We received a total of 19 reports from victims of the Rumah Mampu Milik Johor (RMMJ) housing scam between May and October.
“According to the victims, agents they knew claimed that they could get the RMMJ units through a man with a Datuk title.
“They were told to pay a deposit of between RM3,000 and RM10,000 to the man for processing and approvals," he said in a statement on Monday (Jan 2).
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Following investigations, they identified and arrested the man who was believed to be the syndicate mastermind, Comm Kamarul Zaman said.
He added that the suspect was charged with three counts of dishonestly receiving stolen property and pleaded not guilty.
Comm Kamarul Zaman added that the police are still investigating the crimes and said that the next mention of the case had been set for Jan 15.
According to Comm Kamarul Zaman, the man had his agents reach out to their respective contacts about the housing offer.
“The money paid to the agents would later be handed over to the suspect.
“The victims only realised that they had been duped when they did not receive any response on the unit promised.
"When they checked with the state housing agency, they found that their names were not registered for the scheme,” he said.
Earlier, Johor housing and local government committee chairman Datuk Mohd Jafni Md Shukor revealed that a total of 19 cases of "rent-to-own" housing scams were reported to the State Housing Development Corporation (PKPJ) last year with losses totalling RM122,000.
“We received the first report on this case in July, and after a follow-up investigation from the police, it was revealed that there have been 19 victims to date.
“The suspect claimed that he was a housing agent and could offer any housing projects from People’s Housing Project (PPR) and Rumah Mampu Milik Johor (RMMJ) for payments between RM500 and RM5,000,” Mohd Jafni said.
