A screenshot of the Facebook post shared by one of the victims.
KUCHING: More than 30 individuals are believed to have fallen prey to a scammer, who identified himself as ‘Mohd Aszlan’ offering hiking packages priced between RM650 and RM1,000.
A couple of these victims lodged police reports, saying that they had paid at least RM650 each for the package but they could not contact the man after making their payments.
These individuals were allegedly told by ‘Mohd Aszlan’ that they were paying for a hiking trip to Mt. Kinabalu scheduled for March 26 to 29 this year.
One of them recently took to Facebook to reveal the scam, saying he realised that he was swindled only after several checks with the Kinabalu National Park and a hotel when he could not reach ‘Mohd Aszlan’.
The victim said those checks led him to discover that there was no booking of accommodation for a group of over 30 hikers for the mentioned period.
He then put up a statement regarding the matter on Facebook, as a reminder to those who had also signed up for the hiking packages to get confirmation from ‘Mohd Aszlan’.
The victim later learnt that many other individuals also signed up for similar hiking packages with travelling periods between March and July this year – departing from either Kuching or Kuala Lumpur.
The fees between RM650 and RM1,000 were said to be inclusive of air tickets, accommodation and hiking expenses.
The group of victims who found one another on Facebook later also set up a chat group on WhatsApp.
It is learnt that the number of victims on the WhatsApp group recorded at least 50 as of last Saturday night.
A screenshot of the Facebook post put up by the tour agency.
On top of that, another WhatsApp group which is said to be meant for runners also touched on similar matter. This particular group is said to have about 30 persons who also paid for the hiking packages offered by ‘Mohd Aszlan’.
Given this, it is believed that some other victims have yet to come forward or lodged police reports.
These victims said they had been trying to contact the man but to no avail. Hence, they launched a ‘search’ on social media in the hope of locating the man.
Despite such effort, it is said that the ‘Mohd Aszlan’ account on Facebook has been deleted.
According to sources, this man is an active runner and has even taken part in several marathons.
The majority of those who registered for the hiking packages are runners, who had some idea about who the man was. Hence, they did not have any suspicion that something would go wrong.
It is learnt that ‘Mohd Aszlan’ had posted several photos of his hiking activities on Facebook, believed to have convinced people that his hiking packages were real deals.
Some netizens even stumbled across a Facebook post dated Dec 25 last year by a tour agency, which clarified that ‘Mohd Aszlan’ had not been its employee since March last year.
The agency said it also discovered that the former employee issued fake receipts, used fake stamp of the company and collected deposit from the company’s customers without the company’s knowledge. The company is said to have reported the case to the police.
A netizen, said to be a friend of ‘Mohd Aszlan’, claimed to have been conned of RM7,000 over non-existent trips to places including Beijing and New Zealand.
Contacted by The Borneo Post yesterday, Sarawak Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) chief Supt Mustafa Kamal Gani Abdullah confirmed that they had received reports on the case.
“Case is confirmed. Victims are about 30 or more. I will not elaborate as we are still on active investigation,” he said.
Mustafa added that the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.