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Saturday 1 December 2007

Con Man In KLCC? Or Not?

A tall guy with yellow teeth, clothed fully in black, carrying a bagpack on his shoulders and holding a plastic bag that is filled with newspapers and a book approached SlowCatchUpKuan, KidCheng and I while we were for the train to arrive in the KLCC station. He asked in Mandarin if we are locals because he "overheard" that were speaking in Cantonese to each other and he then eventually told us the rotten luck story that he encountered.

This is his story :-
He is a Singaporean, who hasn't been visiting Malaysia for six long years. He was careless enough to not take care of his small black bag that contains all his important documents including passport, identity card and his wallet. He complained that Malaysian policemen were no help to a foreigner like him. A police report on his lost was made and was charged RM4 for the whole procedure. He was frustrated by this because his wallet was stolen and he doesn't even have a penny to make a call back home. He then tried to ask around for directions to the train station that could take him back to Singapore but different people have been telling him different ways. As usual, a lot don't know the way also won't admit wan! He had been walking for 3 hours till he met a girl who is kind enough to buy him an LRT ticket to KLCC station. He was telling us how grateful he was that he does not have to walk the distance that is as long as 6 LRT stations. But on the other hand, he was basically criticizing about the unkind people that he met. He hoped that he could tag along because we were heading to the same station. He said that his brother will be coming down from Singapore and asked him to wait in KFC. He reconfirmed a few times with us whether there is any KFC in KL Sentral to make sure he got it right. When he reached, he straight point to the KFC and happily thanked us!



We don't feel right leaving him alone with no money to eat, so we walked back to find him to offer him RM10. It felt so right at first to do that. But we get suspicious as the more we think! He said (in Mandarin), "I wanted to ask for some coins to make some calls just now but I dare not. Thank you! How should I repay you? I go back Singapore I donate this money to charity, ok?" Ok, this is the part that got us thinking. Sounded so fake! Or maybe he was sincere. Only god knows.

Why we got suspicious on his honesty? Well, first of all his Mandarin doesn't have the Singaporean slang like those in the dramas and we can't figure out why would anyone travel carrying a plastic full of newspapers. Now I suspect he's from China! He managed to point out the location of KFC even before I could ask SlowCatchUpKuan where it is. And from where we stood, KFC is kind of hidden from our sights. What do you think eh? Are we stupid? Did he just cheat us?!

Hmm.. Maybe we were analysing too much. Maybe he was sincere about donating our money to the charity. Well, you can't blame us for being suspicious. There are too many con men around nowadays, which makes it so difficult to differentiate. It's just a small amount of money but I just hope we really did help a person in need, instead of being cheated.

p.s: KidCheng must still be thinking about this in her sleep! She said something about KTM!! Haha!


18 comments:

Boss Stewie said...

my mother always used to tell me that if people were desperate enough to try to con you for that little bit of money... then they must be desperate enough for money and if it doesn't hurt to give it to them then... why not

of cos.. who likes being cheated

blurryhunniee said...

boss stewie
It's alright as that is just a small amount of money. Honestly, it wouldn't feel good to be cheated. Somehow, I do think what he said is true. But still have doubts here and there coz there are loopholes in his story. Anyhow, he didn't force us. We gave it voluntarily.

Anonymous said...

wow so happening eh..nvm la,juz take it as u are doing a charity..uve done ur part,only god knows whether he's a con or otherwise..

BaBy_oN_BoArd said...

hopefully i wouldn't meet the con man o else i will screw his ass with a pen and smash his head with my 'greenie' bag.... but i also ever met this kind of ppl b4 and i'm so kind till i'm so proud of doing 'charity'... end up laughed by friends.. =(

Cheers!

Ehon said...

finally home.. haven't got the time to read through all blogs.. but oh well. :P then again, u guys already offered him help sincerely so irregardless, there's no point of over-thinking about it, just be reminded that u guys have the heart to be kind. :)

bibliobibuli said...

agree with boss stewie's mum. and have been conned a couple of times like this, though not by the same bloke.

Anonymous said...

eh its confirm con man la...i kena before also..in KLCC..n he is from china also...apparently alot of them la nowadays...i was in the exact same situation...he ask me whether im local blablabla..then he said he went to genting n then he loses all his money...like wtf right??like thts gg to be my prob liddat...then he kept stalking me la damn scary in the end i just gave him 5bucks...to shoo him away..ahahaha...i think im kinda stupid la coz i know i kena con but yet still go n serah myself..but..better save than sorry la..

Johnny Ong said...

just be careful nowadays and at times u just wldn't be able to react fast enough in unforeseen circumstances.

Horny Ang Moh said...

Wah Laueh! Nowaday we all have to be careful! But next time if u meet a big fellow wearing a cheapo t-shirt, short pant & slipper in KLCC & he look like a 'orang utan' asking for ur help please help him ok as he is sometime totally lost in the big city like KL! Oh! Don't worry he wouldn't ask money from u but he will ask for direction like which train to take etc!Have a nice day!

blurryhunniee said...

flux
Uh huh. I think so too!

baby_on_board
LOL! We are all kind people eh. If that guy is really a con man, he must be laughing his arse off coz we were the ones who offered him the money without him asking for it.
If your friends read this, they must be laughing at me! Hehe..

ehon
Welcome home!! :D

Hmm.. I didn't want to think. But then, am curious enough to analyse and hope to find out! Haha..

bibliobibuli
Be careful next time. Who knows, they might be in a syndicate or something.

ufern
Yeap, better safe than sorry.
But then weird excuse to get money from you. Who the hell cares if he losses all his money gambling?? Heck, dare to gamble then must bear the consequences!

Nevermind lar, charity ma. Dapat pahala :P

johnny ong
That happens to me all the time. Do already then only think. Hehe =S

Hor ny Ang Moh
*faint*
I will sure TRY to help you. But there is a big problem here, I am real bad with directions! LOL!!

If that orang utan look alike do not mind, I can join him and we could find the way together. :P

Nux V said...

i sort of encountered such tricks before (that was year 2004). A man claimed to be Sabahan and he mentioned tht he was robbed, except for his air ticket!
He asked me for some money so that he could go to the airport to catch his flight home. Well, of course, i dun hav tht much $$ during tht time, but somehow i jst gav him around RM2 for him to take LRT to KL sentral.
But few weeks later, i saw him loitering around the same place, with another fella...Memang sure he is a CON MAN!

blurryhunniee said...

nux v
Arrgghh.. Now I don't know whether I want to be if he is for real or not! I think if I see him loitering around cheating others, I wouldn't know what to do then.

You must be frustrated when you saw him at that time.

tanalan2 said...

A Pol 55 (Police report ) is FOC lar. Its all printed now on carbon paper and there would be 3 copies each time !!! Nowasays people are smart..they don wan con u big time..just con u little here little there !!

blurryhunniee said...

tanalan2
AArrghhh... Kena con!! Damn! I didn't even know that the police report is FOC! When you accumulate little here and there, it's gonna come into a big sum.

Ugh, that's what I get for being ignorant I guess.

Simon Seow said...

The funny thing is from what I read is that, he didn't ask to borrow money from you. It was you who offered the money to him. If he is a con, most surely he will ask to borrow some money from you and no it will not only be RM 10. It might be the cost of a bus ticket back to Singapore. Maybe this is the new modus operandi of a con, don't even have to ask for money. Make you feel sympathetic towards him and give him money willingly without even being ask.

blurryhunniee said...

simon
Yeah, it's true that we were the ones offered him the money. I'm not convinced that he is really in that kind of trouble now that I've got the sense to think properly. Just too much holes in his stories. Telling us how far the embassy is, since it was very near actually. Er, I just got to know as well. Ignorant me!

If he was using the new modus operandi like what you said,then he succeeded! We fell for the "sympathize me" trick.

Hmm.. it's already happened, lesson learnt.

Simon Seow said...

Well don't be bother by it, I fell for that trick once too. What I think is I'm just doing good to someone whether or not it is a genuine case or not. I just know that I help someone in time of need. If the other someone is not genuine then bad Kharma will falls on them. You won't know that you might really be helping a genuine person in need. If everone of us think everyone asking for help is a con then the world will turn into a selfish world of no people helping stranger anymore. But of course you must be sure that the environment is safe (eg. your're with your friends) only then you help. If not you can just make a call to whoever needed to be call (ambulance, bomba or police).

blurryhunniee said...

simon
It's true. I was once in this situation, the one in need of help. I kind of need to beg to get 10cents to make a phone call!

And I cried when I reach home! =S