Hotel Reservation

Lucky Draw Scam at Hypermarkets in Malaysia

by AA
(Selangor, Malaysia)

Recently a relative was scammed into buying electronic products at a hypermarket in Kelana Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.

The salesman offered her a free recycle bag but she need to answer a few questions. After that he took out a small box which contained the bag and a voucher. He passed the voucher to her and asked her to open it.

It was a RM100 discount voucher and a picture of a vacuum cleaner with RM2898 printed on it. When she showed the salesman the voucher, he acted surprised and said that there could have been a printing error as no one has ever got such a voucher.

He called the supervisor who also said the same thing and proceeded to call the office to confirm the voucher. He passed the line to my relative and someone on the phone asked her to read the serial number to him so that he can check their record whether the voucher was genuine or not.

A while later the office called and said that they have 10 vouchers (with expensive products printed) in circulation and that my relative was the third luckiest person to get it.

The salesman and the supervisor told my relative that she can use the voucher to buy any of their products which must be above 2k or 3k and she will get the vacuum cleaner and another expensive product free. She asked whether the voucher can be used some other day. They replied and said that the voucher was only valid on that day.

They were so convincing that they conned her into buying a microwave oven (above 3k) and she got 2 products (above 6k) free. When she went home and checked on the internet, she found out that many has been cheated by the same company using the same tactic to sell their products.

She realized the so called free products are not free and that she paid for them. She had learned a very painful and expensive lesson. She thought that this kind of crooked persons only go from house to house to sell their products. Many have gone to her house to sell and she has rejected them.

It seems that they are now operating in the reputable shopping complexes and around hypermarkets in Malaysia.

Please beware of this so called lucky draw scams. Never accept free gifts from strangers. There is no such thing as a free lunch.