SIBU: Believing that no one would deceive others over a grave cleaning service left Oliver Wong in disbelief after he lost more than RM300 to an online scam.
“I believed no one would deceive others over such a sensitive service, and in Chinese culture, grave cleaning is a serious tradition.
“I never thought anyone would take advantage of it,” he said at a press conference.
He was accompanied by Lanang Member of Parliament’s Special Assistant, Stanley Chew, at the Democratic Action Party (DAP) Lanang Service Centre here today.
According to Wong, he came across the offer on Facebook on March 5 at around 7 pm, posted by an account named Vincent Kong, before contacting the suspect via the WhatsApp number provided.
“I agreed to pay RM300 for the service and transferred the money to the account given.
“The suspect later offered an additional service of burning paper money for RM88, which I also agreed to,” he added.
Wong said they arranged to meet on March 17 to hand over the money for the ritual.
However, on the agreed date, the scammer was nowhere to be found and ignored calls and messages, leaving Wong with no choice but to file a police report on March 19.
Before reporting the matter to the police, Wong uploaded a video on Facebook detailing his experience.
Surprisingly, after the video went viral, the bank account owner contacted him, appearing nervous.
“He told me that while the bank account was in his name, he was not the scammer and claimed that he had previously rented out his account to someone involved in gambling, unaware that it was being used for fraud,” he said.
The man begged Wong to take the video down, saying it was causing him problems.
“He said his family and friends were questioning him about it.
“I told him that many people had already been scammed, and that a lot of money had gone into his account,” Wong said.
Wong urged him to report the matter to the police and admit that he had rented out his account.
The man initially promised to return the money but then disappeared again.
“I cannot reach him anymore,” Wong said.
