KUALA LUMPUR: Three men who tried to scam a woman of her car by posing as vehicle repossessors have landed themselves on the police wanted list.
The trio had informed the woman that she was in arrears on the repayment of her car loan and that they had to take the car from her.
Sentul district police chief ACP S. Shanmugamoorthy said that on May 17, the 32-year-old woman had parked her car near the Malaysian International Trade and Exhibition Centre in Jalan Dutamas 2, here.
In a post on Facebook, a man who claimed to be the woman’s friend said she told him that someone from Kuala Lumpur City Hall had just called her to tell her that they were going to take her car.
He said he went along with her to check on the car and when they arrived, three men confronted her and informed her that she still owed the bank a total of 19 months in unpaid instalments on her loan. They told her that they were there to repossess her car.
According to the woman’s friend, the “main guy” was very rude and claimed that he knew the law. “He even dared us to call the bank or the police,” he said.
But when the woman tried to call the bank to verify their claim one of the men snatched her phone from her.
The woman’s friend said the trio then began to threaten the two of them and even ordered him to leave because this was not his problem.
“The con men’s tactic was to alarm and not give their victims any chance to think – this made their victims confused as to how they should handle the situation,” he said in his post.
He then alerted the police.
Sensing danger, the trio then asked the victim to pay them RM5,500 to “settle” the matter.
Just before the police arrived, the trio even hooked up the car with their tow truck and began dragging the car a short distance with the woman still at the wheel. They also snatched the car key from her, her friend said in his post.
When the police arrived, the trio insisted that the car was still owned by the bank and that it was their responsibility to take it away.
The policemen then ordered both parties to lodge reports at the police station.
The woman subsequently showed up and had her statement recorded. However, the three men failed to turn up.
Shanmugamoorthy said initial investigations revealed that the woman had never received any notice of unpaid instalments from the bank. Neither had the bank threatened to repossess the car.
He said the police already have the personal particulars of the trio involved and expect to arrest them soon.
The case is being investigated under Section 384 of the Penal Code for extortion.
The video of the incident went viral on social media.
