KUALA LUMPUR: Blinded by greed as well as VIP fame and privileges, a 26-year-old man was suckered into paying close to RM3 million to his childhood friend.
The man, Tan Yong Sheng, said he was reacquainted with his childhood friend, whom he identifies as Gan, in 2017, and was given the impression that the latter was having a successful life doing business in China for many years.
Wanting to show off to his family and thinking he could buy his way into enjoying VIP privileges, Gan introduced Tan to join the Selangor ex-police club, in which he claimed Tan could enjoy the benefits for a monthly donation of a few thousand ringgit.
He received a car sticker and car emblem from his friend as well as certificates for his ‘donations’.
“At first it was only a few thousand ringgit, then it escalated to a few hundred thousand. The biggest sum was RM250,000 in February, because my friend claimed it’s a present for the Yang Dipertuan Agong,“ Tan said at a press conference organised by MCA public services and complaints department chief Datuk Seri Michael Chong.
He also wanted to run a logistics business with this childhood friend and had to pay more than RM650,000 for permits, and certificates.
Tan had been using his father’s company’s money to make payments. His father, Tan Sem Sin, said he didn’t suspect anything because he trusted his son until April this year.
Tan only sensed something was amiss and thought he was being cheated when he pushed to see more certificates for setting up his business, only for Gan to threaten him back.
By that time, he had paid over RM3 million in total for the ‘donations’, setting up a company, and other miscellaneous fees for the past two years.
In addition to that, Gan had persuaded Tan to sign a friendly loan agreement worth over RM2.6 million, which allowed moneylenders to come and chase Tan down for money.
Tan finally lodged a police report at Sabak Bernam police station on Monday (May 20) asking police to investigate this matter.
“I regretted my actions and I want to advise people out there not to trust friends easily over deals like this,“ he said.
