BEWARE OF SCAMS: Horriah showing the official membership form of the association.
MIRI: A 34-year-old widow was downhearted after she was cheated by an unidentified man who claimed to be from the Welfare Department.
The single mother of two children who only wished to be know as Nur said the man in his 40s came to Kampung Tebingan Sungai Miri Pujut on Jan 20 claiming he was assisting single mothers.
“During that time, there was an event at the village community hall. The man…then asked single mothers for their details,” she told the Borneo Post when met at the Single Mothers Association (Miri) at Piasau yesterday.
After getting the details, she said the man went to her house to offer her help saying she deserved it like the other single mothers.
Being the only breadwinner in the family, Nur was truly excited with the offer to ease her financial burden.
The man then asked Nur to pay RM50 as registration fee to join as a member of Single Mothers Association.
“I didn’t have cash at that time and gave him few pieces of clothes worth RM50 as exchange for the registration fee,” Nur said.
The man accepted the exchange and told her that she was going to receive a gift from a minister in conjunction with the Chinese New Year as a latest benefit enjoyed by a member.
For security reason, Nur took down the man’s handphone number in order to ensure that she would not be left out of the gift distribution list.
However, until today, she has yet to receive any positive news from the man.
Apart from Nur, two other single mothers from the village has paid the ‘registration fee’.
Two others were made the same offer.
Nur subsequently referred the matter to the Single Mothers Association and the latter advised her to lodge a police report.
The chairman of the association Horriah Mohd Hata was surprised to learn of the matter as this was the first case ever reported to the association thus far.
“The association has never appointed anybody to go to the ground for member recruitment. If those single mothers wanted to be members of the association, they have to come to the association premises personally to fill a form followed by an interview session.
“Moreover, the association is charging a registration fee of RM10 per person not RM50.”
The fee meant for lifetime membership has to be paid in cash to the association at its premises.
In view of the case, Horriah advised single mothers here to beware of such scams and not to simply believe unidentified persons.
If they encounter any problem or seek clarification on issues related to single mothers, single mothers can contact Horriah at 011-6084007.