A woman suspected of cheating people, including local celebrities, could be a seasoned con-artist as she had seven reports lodged against her in 2017 alone.
The 36-year-old woman, who claimed to be a private travel agent, had duped her victims into buying holiday packages to South Korea, according to Petaling Jaya OCPD Asst Comm Mohd Zani Che Din.
“The woman would claim to be a representative of a travel agent offering attractive holiday packages,” Zani said.
He added that she would stall giving victims their flight tickets, claiming delayed payments to an agent in Seoul.
“She would then get them to deposit more funds into her personal account before producing the plane tickets,” he said.
Victims would only realise at their holiday destination that they were cheated after discovering that the suspect had not made any hotel bookings nor holiday plans for them.
According to Zani, 23 people have recently become victims of the scam and suffered a total loss of more than RM70,000.
He said a 28-year-old drama producer and 60-year-old cultural officer filed two separate complaints claiming to have been cheated during their trip to Seoul last Christmas Eve.
“The victims were initially attracted to the travel package provided by the suspect who claimed to represent a tour agency there that could secure them a special price,” he said.
Zani said both complainants alleged to have met the woman suspect in Mutiara Damansara to discuss and organise group travel packages to Seoul.
He said the victims were told to deposit the money online to a personal bank account, supposed to be for payment for their flight tickets but they were stalled each time they asked for their trip itinerary.
When the victims arrived in Seoul, they found out there were no hotel bookings or travel packages reserved for them.
Earlier on Wednesday, actors Aziz M Osman and Den Wahab were among those who lodged the report at the Mutiara Damansara police station against the woman.
In their report, they said they were drawn to the attractive price of the Korean holiday package costing about RM2,000 per person.
Den said that he and about 20 people in a group booked a trip to South Korea from Nov 24 to Nov 28 last year with the woman.
“On the third day, the agency asked us to check-out from the hotel as they have not received payment from the woman.
“It is understood that the woman had earlier contacted the agency to ask about a holiday package. Under the pretext of being Aziz’s assistant, she told the agency that she would book a holiday package on behalf of the group,” he said.
Den said the agency, however, had assisted them in other ways throughout the travel period but the group had to bear the cost of the return flight themselves when they discovered later that their flight tickets were fake.