“You help me, I help you” – Foreign Tourist Claims Extortion Attempt by PDRM Officers While in KL

A foreign tourist has claimed that officers from the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) attempted to extort money from them after they failed to produce a physical passport.

Posting on the 波德申与圣淘沙 Facebook page, the tourist recounted how officers allegedly intercepted their e-hailing ride in the KLCC area. When asked for identification, the tourist provided a photograph of their passport rather than the original document.

This image is for illustration purposes only.

Tourist claims PDRM officers tried to extort money from them in Kuala Lumpur

The post reads:

“After showing it to him, he first said I didn’t look like [the photo in] the passport. I recited my passport information, and then he said he needed the original to see my entry and exit records.

“I said I didn’t have it with me but could retrieve it from my hotel.”

The officers reportedly suggested the tourist should apply for a residence permit. In response, the tourist clarified they were in Malaysia solely for tourism and offered to show their travel itinerary.

However, the officers allegedly insisted that the tourist had broken the law and would need to be taken to the police station, claiming they faced not only a fine but also a prison sentence. By this stage, the tourist had already paid the e-hailing driver, who subsequently departed.

“You help me, I help you”

Following a lengthy exchange, the PDRM officers allegedly began repeating the phrase, “You help me, I help you.”

“Then, they didn’t move for a long time; they just kept repeating ‘you help me, I help you’ and saying I had broken the law. I said I understood, and if that was the case, we should go to the police station. They then started speaking a mix of Malay and English, which I couldn’t understand at all,” the tourist added.

The tourist further explained: “After arguing with them for a while, I said I really couldn’t understand them and asked for a hotel staff member to come over. They refused.” The officers also reportedly declined to use translation apps to bridge the communication gap.

“You’d go to jail, but I want to help you,” one officer allegedly stated.

A narrow escape

Suspicious of the officers’ motives, the tourist asked if they wanted money and suggested they follow them to an ATM. Seizing a moment of distraction, the tourist then allegedly fled the scene.

“From the moment they said they’d take me to the police station but refused to leave, I felt something was wrong,” the tourist noted.

They also claimed that while the officers initially spoke English well, they later appeared to feign a lack of understanding by mixing English with Malay to confuse.

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Also read: Double Trouble: M’sian Fined by MOH at Eatery, Only to Get PDRM Summons for Separate Offence Later