A job that is too good to be true

Do not fall prey to syndicates offering jobs which involved opening bank accounts and withdrawing money to earn a commission, said the Selangor MCA Public Complaints Bureau.

Its chief Datuk Theng Book advised the public to be cautious when they find such jobs advertised in the media.

Nothing is free. You cannot earn a living just by opening bank accounts, he said during a press conference at the office here yesterday.

One such victim is a 29-year-old man who wants to be known as David.

He worked as a dishwasher in England for six years, before coming home.

He said his nightmare began when he saw a job vacancy advertisement for a marketing executive position in a newspaper in March and met a man named Ong for an interview at a shopping mall.

I was told to open bank accounts for football betting. Once the money is withdrawn, I would gain 1% commission on the spot as my salary, he said, adding he did not suspect anything amiss then.

However, things went wrong on July 15 when he was told by a person named Nick to whom David usually passed the withdrawn money to go to Bank Rakyat headquarters to withdraw RM265,000.

I was waiting in the car while another man, Danny, went inside to withdraw the money.

We were arrested by police as soon as Danny left the building, said David.

He said Nick was caught with them but threatened David not to implicate him in the scam if he does not want his life nor his family to be in danger.

Unfortunately, David was charged under Penal Code Section 420 for cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property by Shah Alam and Klang sessions court.

He is out on RM49,000 bail, Theng said, adding they have taken David to lodge a second police report in the hope that the police will go after the real culprits.

He said that without Davids knowledge, the family was given RM29,000 by the syndicates to pay for th! e bail.< /p>

Theng said MCA would bring the matter up to the Federal Commercial Crimes Investigations Department (CCID) and will write to Attorney-Generals Chambers to review the charges and if possible to withdraw them.

- The Star -