A Malaysian man is sharing how he fell for an alleged scam after he thought he was helping someone in need.
Taking to his Facebook page, Derrick Cheong Shun Lin shared how a foreign man had approached him at Taman Daya, Johor Bahru, to ask if he could help purchase necessities for his 2-day-old baby.
He wrote, “I didn’t expect that I would encounter such a thing. Just yesterday morning, after breakfast, I was ready to get into my car to go to work. This foreign man came to me and told me that his baby was just 2 days old. He needed some simple items and asked if I could help.”
The foreign man had a list of items written on a piece of paper, which were milk for his baby, diapers and milk bottles. Considering the foreign man wasn’t asking for money, Derrick obliged.
“He said that he had already gotten diapers and only needed the milk and milk bottles. He didn’t ask me for money directly, so I thought he must be someone who really needs help. He also said that if I didn’t believe him, I could wait there and he would bring his baby to show me. I saw that it was a hot day, so of course I said that wasn’t necessary,” he explained.
Derrick bought a pack of milk powder and some milk bottles from a nearby store and gave them to the foreign man.
“He behaved like he was really happy, just like someone who really encountered difficulties. I have been through hardships too, so I know how that feels.”
However, he later found out that the man had allegedly gone viral before
Later on, his wife had stumbled upon a XiaoHongShu post, apparently about the same foreign man. The post explained how the man would allegedly scam people into buying things for him so that he could resell them to other stores.
“It turns out that he is a repeat offender, telling people the same story and repeating the same routine everywhere. He will take the items you purchased for him and sell them for a cheaper price at other stores,”
“He let me let down my guard, and he cheated me like this,” he said.
Derrick ultimately shared his post to warn others to be more wary of those who approach you seeking help.
Becoming wary might mean the truly underprivileged might not get the help they need
Many pointed out that, due to scams like this, people may end up turning away those who truly need help. Meanwhile, others shared their belief that we should still play our part to assist the underprivileged among us.
“Abusing the sympathy of kind people, people who really need help in the future will not get help.”
“Because of this kind of people! Others will become suspicious of each other. The world will become more and more indifferent.”
“Thanks to people like this, kindness will be wiped out. We end up having to be wary of scammers all the time.”
“It doesn’t matter. You keep doing your good deeds, he will bear the consequences of his actions.”
What do you think about this? Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.
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