The Star, Monday April 16, 2012

Beware deadly con men

PETALING JAYA: Before, there was only the risk of losing money or ending up with a broken heart to glib-tongued swindlers.

Now, Malaysians have to be on the lookout for deadly con men pretending to be mediums to gain the trust of unsuspecting victims before robbing and even killing them.

A recent triple murder in Taman Sri Ramal, Kajang, has highlighted the existence of such vile fraudsters.

A medium who claimed he could mend family disputes through a ritual, poisoned them with milk laced with weedkiller in the wee hours of April 1.

The deceased: (From left) Rajeswary, Manivaran and Sakunthala.

 

He fled the house after stealing their jewellery and valuables and setting a gas cylinder on fire in the kitchen.

K. Rajeswary, 28, died in hospital on April 4 while her brother Manivaran, 33, died four days later. Their mother M. Sakunthala, 63, died on Saturday.

Selangor police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah said although deaths were rare in cases involving con men, many other cases, however, go unreported.

“People should be wary and be extra cautious when seeking alternate solutions to problems, including family disputes and medical ailments,” he said.

He said in most cases, the public seek these people out of desperation.

As con men look for ways to manipulate strengths and weaknesses, they would first work on gaining trust.

“The eventual victims are easily duped because they are usually in a state of distress. The con men prey on their desperation to get what they want,” he said.

Devastated: M. Karuppanan, 65, and his eldest son Sargunan (left) at the Serdang Hospital mortuary.

 

Meanwhile, the Bukit Aman Commercial Crimes Investigations Department (CCID) director Comm Datuk Syed Ismail Syed Azizan said Malaysians have been swindled of more than RM32mil through scams between January and June last year.

Besides Internet fraud, the con tricks also include parcel scams (victims are told that he or she had received parcels with expensive gifts, jewellery or cash, but the packages are detained by Customs and payment is sought for the release), Macau scams (con men claiming to be police or bank officers duping the victim is being investigated and that he or she has to surrender money into an account to verify that it was not gained illegally).

“A total of 454 Macau scam cases were reported amounting to losses of over RM10.6mil while 472 parcel scam cases were also reported with losses of over RM10mil as well within the same period,” Comm Syed Ismail said.