KUCHING: A teenager surrendered to the police last Friday because he wanted to stop abetting a
bad hat to extort charity leaders.
He told reporters on Sunday that he had apologised to those who had been threatened and cheated of their money.
He added that he had no qualms in disclosing the ordeal he had to endure while part of the illegal activities.
“I, witnessed by my father, would like to reveal an internet expose depicting a case.
“I was used by some people to do illegal things,” he said at his home.
“Among other things, I was told (by the bad hat) to ‘ask for money’ from the victims.
“This includes helping someone to tarnish the reputation of some charity leaders on Facebook and also to extort them.”
The 16-year-old claimed that he needed to work after school because of financial problems.
One day, while scouting for a job at MJC last November, a stranger approached him and offered him a job.
He was told that the job was an easy one as all he needed to do was to look for people’s personal details.
The stranger then gave him his contact phone number.
A couple of days later, the stranger drove him to the state library and told him about ways to earn money for gambling and women.
When they arrived at the library, he was told to cut newspaper articles concerning charity leaders and ministers.
After that, he was directed to post defamatory materials against these people online.
The teenager claimed that his cousin joined him initially but she quit after a short while.
He said he was paid RM40 per day by the stranger and managed to earn about RM800 in total.
“I bumped into that stranger sometime in July and last month but I refused to join him again. He did not allow me to quit because he said I was already deeply involved in the crime. That’s why I decided to surrender myself to the police,” he said.