KUALA LUMPUR – Seputeh MP Teresa Kok has urged the inspector-general of police to take immediate action against a renovation company, alleging that it has scammed around 60 people of more than RM1 million.
Accompanied by eight individuals claiming to be victims, she called on the authorities to investigate and take action against the renovation company on the matter.
Speaking at a press conference at Kok’s service centre here, one of the “victims”, Nigel Ong, 37, stated that he came to know about the company from its website, as he wanted to renovate his new home.
According to him, he met with the company’s “owner” and assistants in May to discuss the renovation plans and was convinced by the owner's excellent explanation on how to carry out the renovation.
Ong said that he paid 50% as a deposit as he was told that the work would begin after the payment. But the work was done slowly, and many things were done wrong, he claimed.
“Thereafter, they began avoiding my messages and phone calls, and I questioned why there were no workers and why they weren’t following the deadline,” he said.
He stated he then received a call from one of the assistants who said that the owner had died and the construction would be carried out by his relative.
After that, he could not reach the company’s website or its page on Facebook or Instagram. “They cannot be found or contacted,” said Ong.
He added that he got to know about the alleged scam through an ex-staff of the company, and also through Facebook, where he contacted other alleged victims who had lost sums of up to RM300,000.
Ong said eventually he discovered that the person he had met was not the true owner.
The rightful owner of a tree-carpentry company with the same name told him that the person had used his name to run a scam business and that he himself was a victim.
He said the person was still alive as he received messages for ordering wood.
Ong also said that according to the former staff of the renovation company, the alleged scammer claimed to have a municipal council permit.
Meanwhile, retired lecturer Sridevi Srinivas, 58, and her husband Prasad Das, 61, a retired banker, alleged that they were scammed by the company for their home renovation.
The couple said that they dealt with the assistants of the business “owner” regarding the renovation plan. They said the assistants looked professional and believable.
“They also agreed when we asked them to complete the renovation before the end of this year,” said Sridevi.
According to Sridevi, they were asked to pay a 30% deposit to start the renovation work, but when the couple demanded to see the MPK approval, the assistants began avoiding them.
She said she got exasperated as they did not answer her phone calls.
“They asked me to message them on WhatsApp. When I asked for email communication, as WhatsApp can be deleted, she (assistant) denied (the request),” said Sridevi.
She said they finally tracked the architect company, who eventually told them that it did not receive any payment at all.
Other victims also said they were scammed by the same method, which was pre-planned with clean details.
They added that the company was not registered with the Companies Commission of Malaysia.
Sridevi lodged a police report on the matter on December 15 and expressed hope that action will be taken and that they will get their money returned. – The Vibes, December 15, 2022
