An act of kindness turned out to be nothing but regret for a 20-year-old college student after she found out the recipient had pulled a similar modus operandi on other unsuspecting victims.
She later took to Threads to warn others of the man and the post has since garnered over 17,000 likes at the time of writing.
Claimed to have low e-wallet balance
Speaking to WeirdKaya, the student named Sha said she crossed paths with the man last Sunday (July 12) at KL Sentral, where the latter approached her while she was purchasing an LRT token.
“He asked me if I had activated my e-wallet since his was presumably having insufficient balance in it. On top of that, he also claimed that his online banking app was undergoing maintenance so he couldn’t top it up using his own e-wallet account.
“Although I tried to help as much as possible without lending him cash, he asked me for RM75 and I told him he needed to pay me the amount immediately so I can cash it out for him,” she recounted.
Sha said she handed the man her QR code but the transaction couldn’t get through due to the alleged maintenance.
Thus, Sha requested the man to show her his IC and to take a photo of him as she wanted to ensure he wasn’t a scammer, to which he obliged though she noted he did so with a bit of hesitation.
Ghosted
Believing that the man didn’t have any ill intentions, Sha went to an ATM and withdrew a total of RM81, which was inclusive of an RM1 processing fee. She also exchanged contact with the man before leaving the scene.
When she tried reaching out to the man to ask for repayment, he simply ignored her messages, leading her to initially assume he was busy with work.
However, she came to the horrific realisation that the man was a con artist when she searched up “KL Sentral scammer” online and his face popped up in the search results.
Painful lesson
Sha told WeirdKaya that she wasn’t the only one who got scammed by the same person as several people reached out to her after her post went viral.
“There were about five people who texted me, but from the comment section, there were probably more than 20 victims.”
She also said she received much criticism over the incident, some of which she admitted hurt her deeply, adding she’s now reluctant to render help to strangers in the future.
It was careless of me because it was one search away and I had my phone in my hand. If only I could think straight and search for his name, I could’ve prevented this from happening.
“My advice for those who’s scared to reject others, just make sure to do your research first or better yet, just say no and run to crowded area,” she implored.
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