Petaling Street and the areas nearby may be a heaven for cheap items, but extortion seems to be a practice for some people there. It seems as if the student who was forced to pay RM1,500 for 1 screen protector was not the only victim there.
Her Facebook post explaining the incident extensively has gone viral on social media, meanwhile, one of the victims at a similar place also shared his terrifying experience of paying the same amount for 1 screen protector with “insurance.”
“Pay or you’ll get beaten, kid”
The incident happened in July last year when the man, who was still a student was threatened to pay for the “warranty.” He was approached by a man who promoted screen protectors to him with a price range between RM10 to RM20. He chose the cheapest one, and similarly, he was asked to produce his IC.
To cut the story short, he refused to pay the RM2099 insurance, which upset the tattooed man, who appeared to be the owner of the shop.
“He told me my details have been registered and the screen protector has been installed, there was no way to cancel.”
Not only that but the tattoed man went on to threaten to beat the student.
“There’s a CCTV here, I’ll call the police if you don’t make the payment,” the tattooed man added.
The victim then told the man he was just a student and he had a very limited allowance. Refusing to let the victim go, the tattooed man asked his employee to “escort” the student to the ATM and check his balance.
“The guy who went to the ATM with me was waving to other vendors there. It felt like everyone vendors in the building is an accomplice.”
When they knew he had only RM1,600 in his account, the tattooed man offered him “a generous discount,” where he had to pay RM1,500. The matter did not end there.
He was allegedly forced to shoot a short video, where he had to say he was willing to pay for the screen protector and the warranty.
“They asked another uncle to shoot the video for me, and said he would beat me if I did not follow his instructions.”
They also showed him some clips of other victims, who were mostly of foreigners to intimidate him.
This is extortion at its peak! If this is still happening at the place, we seriously hope that the authorities will pay the place a visit before more victims fall prey to the “insurance scheme”.
