Scams love a trusted name almost as much as they love your money, as claims of endorsement often add an air of believability to the scheme being touted.
Indeed, when promises of “priority approval” sound too good to be true – they usually are.
Recently, it was claimed that a Johor executive councillor’s name was being misused to push a fake housing deal.
Is this true?
Verdict:
TRUE
A Johor executive councillor has lodged a police report against individuals who allegedly misused his name to offer housing deals.
State Housing and Local Government committee chairman Datuk Mohd Jafni Md Shukor said he filed the report at the Kulai district police headquarters on Friday (Sept 19).
“I would like to stress that there are no middlemen or personal representatives allowed in the application for the Johor Affordable Housing Scheme,” he said.
“All applications must be made only through the official eRumah Johor platform,” he said in a Facebook post on Saturday (Sept 20).
He reminded the public to be cautious and not fall prey to scammers.
“Scammers are trying to deceive the public by using the names of leaders, government programmes or state government logos.
Stern action will be taken against anyone attempting to defraud others,” he added.
Kulai OCPD Asst Comm Tan Seng Lee said the report was lodged at 2.24pm on Friday, Sept 19.
He said the case is being investigated under Section 420/511 of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act.
