Hey all. Just want to alert all members out there regarding a con man on the loose. His info below:
Name: TAO LIHUA @ TING SENG HUI
Bank Account No: 1610 1603 2087 Maybank
H/P No: 0198566353
Email: [email protected]
References from Lowyat Forum:
~ TING SENG HUI ~ Learn His Modus Operandi
Conman: beware of this number 0198566353
Here's the story.
My gf's dad was looking for a particular camera model (quite rare as it is an old model) and posted a Want To Buy (WTB) ad on a few online classifieds and photography websites. A few days later, this guy called him up saying that he has that particular camera for sale. As usual, we requested photos and a description of the item. He provided them via email. Everything looked ok, my gf's dad smsed him to bargain. The open price was RM550. They agreed on a price of RM450.
He told my gf's dad to bank in the RM450 to secure the deal, which he did. The seller said he will send the item via poslaju within 2-3 working days.
The next day, we got a text from him saying that an additional RM100 is needed to be banked in as it is for the poslaju insurance, and it is fully refundable as soon as the package arrives. He is located in Ipoh, hence the shipping with poslaju. Now, things started to get fishy. He didn't mention anything about the additional RM100 when we agreed on the price. Since when is insurance fully refundable? Partial, if any.
Since we want to avoid the additional RM100 charge, we told him that we will get one of our relatives in Ipoh to collect the item from him. He avoided our request and demanded that we bank in the additional RM100, or else he will release the camera to another buyer on the count that we didn't provide him with a full payment and there was another person waiting to purchase the camera.
This is ridiculous. The agreed full payment was RM450, which was already banked to his account. Now he demanded us an additional RM100? We decided that we didn't want to deal further with him anymore and demanded a refund of the RM450. He sent us a text saying something like this, "If you got no money to pay the full amount, don't waste my time, I don't like to deal with liars. Have a nice day."
He didn't pick up our calls, smses and reply our emails after that.
LESSONS LEARNT:
1. My gf's dad got excited at the fact that someone has the camera model he wanted because it was such a rare item and he's been searching high and low for it. Price was reasonable and condition was tip top (according to his fake pictures).
2. Never EVER EVER bank in money to non trusted accounts. Use Paypal or any other secure transaction. Best way is to COD (which is my preferred method).
3. When things look too good to be true, it always is.
4. Research, research and research! I got all this information just by searching his bank account number and name through Google. If we were to Google his info beforehand, we wouldn't be conned into paying him :(
Now, the BIG question. How can we go about solving this issue? In the eyes of the authorities, RM450 is a relatively small amount and through my experience, the police will never open a case for such trivial matters, except just to take our statement. I know the money is gone. Thank God it is not thousands, but RM450 is still money to us.
What gets me the most is that after reading other threads about his scams, a lot of people have been conned by this guy. How come he is able to operate his Maybank account with his full name (possibly fake, I don't know) and authorities are unable to close in to him?
Bros/sis that is working in banks, can I walk in with my police report and get his details? What else can I do? Anyone came across him before?
Much thanks.
Name: TAO LIHUA @ TING SENG HUI
Bank Account No: 1610 1603 2087 Maybank
H/P No: 0198566353
Email: [email protected]
References from Lowyat Forum:
~ TING SENG HUI ~ Learn His Modus Operandi
Conman: beware of this number 0198566353
Here's the story.
My gf's dad was looking for a particular camera model (quite rare as it is an old model) and posted a Want To Buy (WTB) ad on a few online classifieds and photography websites. A few days later, this guy called him up saying that he has that particular camera for sale. As usual, we requested photos and a description of the item. He provided them via email. Everything looked ok, my gf's dad smsed him to bargain. The open price was RM550. They agreed on a price of RM450.
He told my gf's dad to bank in the RM450 to secure the deal, which he did. The seller said he will send the item via poslaju within 2-3 working days.
The next day, we got a text from him saying that an additional RM100 is needed to be banked in as it is for the poslaju insurance, and it is fully refundable as soon as the package arrives. He is located in Ipoh, hence the shipping with poslaju. Now, things started to get fishy. He didn't mention anything about the additional RM100 when we agreed on the price. Since when is insurance fully refundable? Partial, if any.
Since we want to avoid the additional RM100 charge, we told him that we will get one of our relatives in Ipoh to collect the item from him. He avoided our request and demanded that we bank in the additional RM100, or else he will release the camera to another buyer on the count that we didn't provide him with a full payment and there was another person waiting to purchase the camera.
This is ridiculous. The agreed full payment was RM450, which was already banked to his account. Now he demanded us an additional RM100? We decided that we didn't want to deal further with him anymore and demanded a refund of the RM450. He sent us a text saying something like this, "If you got no money to pay the full amount, don't waste my time, I don't like to deal with liars. Have a nice day."
He didn't pick up our calls, smses and reply our emails after that.
LESSONS LEARNT:
1. My gf's dad got excited at the fact that someone has the camera model he wanted because it was such a rare item and he's been searching high and low for it. Price was reasonable and condition was tip top (according to his fake pictures).
2. Never EVER EVER bank in money to non trusted accounts. Use Paypal or any other secure transaction. Best way is to COD (which is my preferred method).
3. When things look too good to be true, it always is.
4. Research, research and research! I got all this information just by searching his bank account number and name through Google. If we were to Google his info beforehand, we wouldn't be conned into paying him :(
Now, the BIG question. How can we go about solving this issue? In the eyes of the authorities, RM450 is a relatively small amount and through my experience, the police will never open a case for such trivial matters, except just to take our statement. I know the money is gone. Thank God it is not thousands, but RM450 is still money to us.
What gets me the most is that after reading other threads about his scams, a lot of people have been conned by this guy. How come he is able to operate his Maybank account with his full name (possibly fake, I don't know) and authorities are unable to close in to him?
Bros/sis that is working in banks, can I walk in with my police report and get his details? What else can I do? Anyone came across him before?
Much thanks.
