No harvest but a thorny con: China firm loses RM2.6mil in frozen durian scam

JOHOR BARU: A China-based company has lost about RM2.6mil in a bogus deal to import frozen musang king durian from Malaysia.

Johor police chief Comm Datuk M. Kumar confirmed that a complaint was lodged by the company’s manager, a Chinese national.

“The complainant said the suspect, also a Chinese national, allegedly convinced him using an approved permit (AP) to import frozen musang king from Malaysia to China,” he said in a statement on Tuesday (Oct 15).

“The AP was purportedly owned by a fruit import and export company with a Malaysian address.

“The company met with the suspect in China and agreed to buy 3,840 cartons of frozen musang king worth 4.3 million yuan (RM2.6mil).”

Comm Kumar added that on July 5, the complainant’s company transferred the money to a bank account held by a Malaysian company – a different one from the firm holding the AP – as instructed by the suspect.

He also said the suspect promised to send the complainant the frozen durian within a month after payment was made.

“However, to this day, the company has not received the shipment as promised and the suspect could not be contacted.

“The complainant asked a friend in Malaysia to locate the company that holds the AP.

“However, this company said that it had never struck any deal with the complainant,” he added.

He said the complainant then came to Malaysia to lodge a police report.

Comm Kumar said the case was being investigated under Sections 411 and 420 of the Penal Code for dishonestly receiving stolen property and cheating respectively.

Comm Kumar advised the public to always be vigilant when conducting business affairs with unknown individuals.

“They should check the individual and company’s background with agencies or authorities such as the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry before making financial transactions to reduce the risk of being a scam victim.

“Anyone who has fallen victim should immediately contact the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) at 997 as an early step to (freeze the money in) the suspect’s account,” he added.