Property developer manager cons buyers in affordable homes scam

PETALING JAYA (Aug 27): A manager at a property development company was arrested by police for swindling interested buyers of affordable homes in Johor out of RM5,000 each, reported The Star.

The man had duped prospective buyers to pay the amount as a special booking fee to secure a home under the Rumah Mampu Milik Johor (RMMJ) scheme.

To make his con more convincing, the man – in his 30s – had even prepared fake documents with the letterhead of the Johor state government.

His ploy was uncovered when a prospective buyer he had persuaded to fork out the sum grew suspicious of their dealings.

The buyer, who was told by the man that there were several homes under the scheme available in Bandar Dato Onn as selected applicants fail to obtain financing within the set timeframe, decided to contact her friend who was working at the Johor state housing secretariat.

She then discovered that the certificate issued to her was a counterfeit while the home she had allegedly secured has been allocated to someone else and immediately lodged a police report.

The state housing secretariat also filed a police report on the matter.

Johor Housing and Rural Development Committee chairman Dzulkefly Ahmad lauded the police for their quick action and warned staff of property development companies against duping people.

He reiterated that there was no booking fee for RMMJ homes and all the application criteria are listed on the state official website.