JOHOR BARU: A 35-year-old Malaysian is in a predicament as a former roommate is believed to have illegally used his bank accounts to transfer money out.
What is more frustrating is that the Malaysian suspect is still at large due to jurisdiction issues involving the Malaysian and Singaporean police.
The victim, identified as Lai, who has to date lodged four police reports – two each in Singapore and Malaysia – said the police in Singapore are unable to track the suspect as he had left for Malaysia, while the Malaysian police said the crime was outside their jurisdiction since it was committed in Singapore.
Lai’s nightmare started when he went to Singapore and rented a room for S$450 (RM1,750) based on an advertisement on social media after getting a job in a construction company last year.
“There were four of us. Two Malaysians and two Filipinos. I stayed with them for about two months,” he said, adding that the other Malaysian, who was working in the food and beverage sector, was kind and helpful.
The first incident occurred when Lai realised that there were two online transfers from his Singapore bank accounts on Nov 9 and 10 last year totalling S$2,550 (RM8,925).
“I lodged a police report the next day about these money transfers to Singapore-based e-wallet Wise,” he said, adding that on Nov 16 and Nov 17, there were three other transfers from his Malaysian bank’s credit card to a Malaysian e-wallet totalling RM8,918.
Lai lodged another report with the Singapore police on Nov 17.
“After the second incident, I decided to move out and rented another place. I never suspected my roommate as he was supportive and told me that he too had been scammed in such a manner and asked me to be cautious,” he said.
Lai only found out that his roommate could be involved when a Singapore police officer told him that the money was transferred to a Wise account belonging to the roommate.
“I tried to contact the suspect but could not reach him,” he said, adding that he lodged two reports in Malaysia on Nov 18 last year and May 4 this year but there was little progress since the crime was committed in Singapore.
“I tried to get the details of the Malaysia e-wallet but they refused, saying it is against Bank Negara’s rules to reveal other people’s bank details,” he said, adding that he was asked to lodge a complaint with the Ombudsman for Financial Services (OFS).
To date, Lai has lost RM17,843 and the Malaysian bank is regularly calling him to settle the outstanding sum on his credit card.
Lai then sought the assistance of Johor MCA Youth chief Heng Zhi Li, who said the police jurisdiction issue is serious, which could be exploited to cheat Malaysians working in Singapore.
“We also get loan shark cases whereby the victims borrow in Singapore but their families in Malaysia get harassed and are threatened to pay up,” he said, adding that they are getting between three and five loan shark and credit card fraud cases each month.
Heng said there is a need for a special task force to be formed to handle such cases and they would also be submitting their findings to the Johor police chief soon.
Iskandar Puteri OCPD Asst Comm M. Kumarasan when contacted confirmed that they have received police reports with regard to the case and said investigations were underway.
