Scammed Twice: "Anti-Scam" Firm Steals $293,000 From Victim

A new warning has been issued in Malaysia for people who have already lost money to scams. Fraudsters are now posing as "anti-scam" law firms to steal even more from their victims. Michael Chong, head of the Malaysian Chinese Association’s (MCA) Public Services and Complaints Department, said his office has received multiple complaints. The fraud involves online advertisements from fake law firms. These entities promise extremely high recovery rates of over 90 percent to get money back for scam victims. Instead, they exploit the victims a second time. Chong revealed one extreme case. A woman initially lost 1,700 Malaysian ringgit (US$366) to a scam. Hoping to recover it, she hired one of these "anti-scam" firms. The fake firm then took 1.36 million ringgit (US$293,000) from her. She lost this much larger sum while trying to reclaim her original, smaller loss. Authorities urge the public to be very careful. They advise verifying the legitimacy of any recovery service through official channels before paying any fees.