Sarawak Consumers Association Urges Crackdown On Services Scams Involving Foreigners

KUCHING (Aug 29): Sarawak Consumers Association (PPS) has called upon the government to tighten control, surveillance, and enforcement over illegal employment and scams involving foreign nationals.

According to PPS president Dr Wynson Ong, there have been many complaints about ‘services’ being advertised by foreigners on social media.

These services include offers for ‘free home leakage inspections’, and also ‘hollow tile inspections’ promising that such issues can be resolved ‘without breaking walls or tiles’.

“In several cases, questions arose regarding work permits, payments made into personal bank accounts, and unresolved defects after payments had been made.

“What concerns us the most is that when some victims lodged police reports, they claimed that there was no follow-up action, leaving them at a loss as to where to seek redress,” said Ong in a statement, adding that by then, it often became difficult or impossible to contact the perpetrators.

He said some cases involved payments amounting to thousands of ringgit.

“While the visa-free policy aims to boost tourism and the economy, post-entry monitoring and enforcement mechanisms must be strengthened in tandem,” said Ong.

On online and cross-border fraud, Ong deemed the current penalties – some cases resulting in fines of only RM3,000 to RM5,000 – as having failed to serve as an effective deterrent.

“If the losses suffered by victims or the profits gained from illegal activities are far higher than the fines imposed, we must ask whether such penalties are truly enough to intimidate the scammers; the offenders might treat these fines merely as ‘cost of doing business’.

“Furthermore, when similar cases with identical modus operandi emerge across Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu, Miri, and other places nationwide, the authorities must not treat them as isolated civil disputes.

“The authorities must investigate if individuals entering Malaysia under visa-free entry or as tourists are carrying out home repairs, renovations, taking projects, or providing paid services.

“The visa-free entry is not a licence for them to seek work here,” he said.

Ong said to plug operational gaps, PPS called for enhanced inter-agency cooperation and information sharing between the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM), the Immigration Department, and relevant enforcement bodies.

“The government opens the nation’s doors to bring in tourists, investments and economic opportunities; not to create space for irresponsible parties to work illegally or hunt for victims,” he stressed.

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