75-year-old duped of RM4,000 after believing medium’s prediction of son’s death

MALACCA: A 75-year-old woman has become the latest victim of a cheating medium here, and the way she was duped was typical.

Wong Sau Yoke was approached on a street by a woman pretending to be looking for a reputable traditional medicine practitioner.

While they were talking, another woman joined them and told Wong that a curse was about to befall her and only her sifu (master) could save her.

The two women brought Wong to a place in Jalan Portugis here where they were greeted by a man claiming to be a medium.

"After chanting some mantras, the man told me my youngest son was very ill and could die in three days if I did not do anything," she said in an interview yesterday.

Wong believed the man because her youngest son, who is in his late 40s, was indeed ill.

He asked her to go home and return with some belongings and her savings in a plastic bag to enable him to perform prayers.

"I did exactly what he told me. After he had done some prayers, the man returned the plastic bag to me. He told me I should open the bag after a few days," Wong said.

However, Wong decided to open the bag once she reached the altar of her home and was shocked to find that it contained two bottles wrapped in a newspaper. Her belongings and money amounting to nearly RM4,000 were gone.

Wong had lodged a police report on the incident which occurred last Sunday.

In KUALA LUMPUR, MCA Public Service and Complaints Department chief Datuk Seri Michael Chong said women made up the majority of victims duped by fake mediums.

"It is usually the women who are more superstitious than men. They think that they can get help from the medium, especially on family problems," he told The Star.

Recounting the cases that he has come across, he said the worst case ended up with the victim having sex with the medium.

He said there was a case in 2010 when a medium stopped a woman on the street, claiming that her "aura" was unclean and that bad luck would befall her.

"The medium claimed that he had the aura' and energy to turn her fate around.

"But he said the only way to transfer this aura was to have sex with him," said Chong.

But instead of getting better "chi" (inner essence) from the experience, the woman was left with sexually transmitted diseases.

"I told the woman that she was lucky she did not get HIV," Chong said, adding that he encountered another similar case the same year.

However, he said, the department had been receiving fewer complaints over the years.

In 2010, there were 15 cases, compared to five last year. Chong has received one report of such a case so far this year.

"I think there is more awareness among the public and the police are also doing a good job arresting the conmen.

"Nothing will fall from the sky. I hope that people will stop believing in mediums who promise a quick fix to their problems," he said.

Previously inundated with similar complaints, the department came up with a guidebook in 2008 on how to identify fake mediums, which Chong said had been snapped up like hot cakes.

"We had very good response to the book. Everywhere we went, people were asking for the book," he said.

In the book, there were nine chapters detailing the environment, religious fees and treatment and behaviour of a true religious medium.

One key point stressed in the book is that a true medium does not have inappropriate bodily contact with the opposite sex.

-The Star-

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