Public warned against foreign beggars using deceptive tactics
Published on: Friday, June 27, 2025
Published on: Fri, Jun 27, 2025
By: Ahmad Apong Text Size: A beggar asking for alms. BEAUFORT: The public here are advised against entertaining beggars who approach for alms following reports of foreign nationals using deceptive tactics to solicit money. District Council Executive Officer Mohd Ainol Mohd Dun said these beggars employ various methods when asking for donations, remaining silent and only using papers written in Chinese characters. 'Clearly they are not Malaysian Chinese beggars but rather from foreign countries who may be looking to supplement their income,' he said. The warning came after a complaint from a local man who was dining at a coffee shop here on Friday. The complainant contacted authorities after encountering a beggar who went from table to table asking for alms without speaking, only using Chinese-written notes. 'It is quite rare for local Chinese to beg for alms in this State,' Mohd Ainol said, adding that he strongly discourages the public from giving donations to these fake beggars. He said begging is uncommon in the district, with neither local Malays nor Chinese engaging in such activities, suggesting these are likely Chinese nationals who have overstayed in the country. He said he had directed enforcement officers to track down the beggar, but the individual had disappeared and likely been picked up by a vehicle. If caught, the district council will hand them over to the Social Welfare Department and Immigration Department for further action. Several months ago, similar incidents occurred involving male and female beggars who appeared healthy and used flutes and saxophones while soliciting donations. These beggars operated even at the public market but fled when their activities were exposed. Following these incidents, Immigration officers contacted Daily Express and requested to be notified if Chinese beggars deliberately seeking alms are encountered in the area. * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available.
Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Ukraine says it hits four warplanes in Russia's Volgograd region
(Reuters) -Ukraine's military said on Friday it had struck four warplanes at an airbase in central Russia's Volgograd Region as part of a drive to hit Russian war assets. In a post on the Telegram messaging app, the military said it had hit four Su-34 aircraft at the Marinovka base outside the city of Volgograd, some 900 km (550 miles) from the Ukrainian border. The post said the operation was conducted by the military's special operations branch, together with the SBU security service and other services of the military. "According to preliminary information, four aircraft were hit, specifically SU-34 planes, as well as technical-operational facilities where different warplanes are serviced and repaired," the statement said. There was no immediate comment from the Russian military. Ukraine has engaged in a number of long-range operations against military targets in recent months -- industrial, energy and other sites. Earlier this month, the Ukrainian military carried out a major strike, dubbed "Operation Spider's Web," in which large numbers of long-range Russian bombers were hit at several Russian airbases far from Ukrainian territory. The latest statement said the damage caused by the strike on Marinovka was being assessed. It described the Su-34 as Russia's main aircraft used in bombing raids on Ukrainian territory, deployed in particular for launching guided bombs, used increasingly in attacks on Ukrainian cities. (Reporting by Ron Popeski; editing by Diane Craft)
The Star
6 hours ago
- The Star
Jail for Singaporean man, the ‘second in command' of illegal operation of cross-border crypto transactions
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): From its premises in Geylang, a team operated an illegal business buying and selling large amounts of foreign currency and cryptocurrency. Between Feb 1 and 23, 2023, the team provided cross-border money transfer services involving Singapore and foreign currencies of at least $35 million in value over no fewer than 430 transactions. Following a police raid on the premises on Feb 23, 2023, the mastermind behind the operation, Singaporean Low Han Chuan, 44, fled the country. On June 26, Javiour Chia Kit Hou, 34, whom the prosecution described as the second in command, was sentenced to 10 months' jail. He had pleaded guilty earlier to one charge of abetment of the provision of an unlicensed payment service. Deputy public prosecutors Shamini Joseph and Kiera Yu said that at some point, before June 2021, Low was introduced to a director of Sir Money Changer, a family-run company. Low expressed an interest in starting his own money-changing and remittance business, and, after a discussion, the director agreed to let Low operate his business autonomously under Sir Money Changer's name from its premises at 12 Lorong 1 Geylang in exchange for $14,000 monthly. Low would hire his own staff and pay their salaries, and while the contributions to the staff's Central Provident Fund accounts would be paid by Sir Money Changer, Low would have to reimburse it. He was also required to record and submit the money-changing and remittance transactions performed at the Geylang premises to Sir Money Changer so that annual accounting returns could be filed together. Low began business operations on the premises in September 2021. While he used Sir Money Changer's name, he conducted his own business involving illegal cross-border money transfer services from the Geylang premises independently and without oversight from Sir Money Changer. He did not have a licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) that allowed him to carry on such a business, and he was not an exempt payment service provider. Low, who masterminded the operation and procured customers, was generally not physically present at the premises. To run his business daily, he employed Chia; Malaysian Ho Jia Yi, 26; Singaporeans Peh Kian Tat, 46, Jacky Lim Teck Leng, 27, and Ng Yang Kai Don, 24, who is his nephew; as well as an unidentified person known as Vera. Between September 2021 and February 2023, the crew operated the business of buying and selling large amounts of foreign currency and the USDT cryptocurrency. Chia, who had a monthly salary of about $3,500, led the team and executed the daily operations of the business. He would assign roles and responsibilities to the team, relay Low's instructions, procure customers for the business, execute the transfer of USDT, and supervise the recording of the transactions. When a customer engaged the team's services, a group chat would be set up on WhatsApp or Telegram to facilitate communication between the team and the customer. The team members were given work phones with a Cambodian number, which they used to communicate on the group chat. Using the chat, customers would indicate the amount they wished to remit and the currency to be sent to the receiving bank account or intended recipient. The team would then provide the buying or selling rate, and the amount that would be transferred to the recipient in the intended currency. The customer would then agree to the deal or not. After a deal was confirmed, the team would coordinate between its network of overseas and local agents to perform the remittance transaction by either transferring or receiving cash, or processing transfers to the recipients' bank accounts. Once the transaction was completed, members of the team would record the details of the transaction in a spreadsheet, including the customer alias, the date of transaction, the amount and currency involved, and the conversion rate. The prosecutors said the team did not carry out any know-your-customer or proof of funds checks or file cash movement reports despite being aware of the regulatory requirements to do so. On Feb 21, 2023, a 58-year-old woman made a police report stating that she was a victim of a police impersonation scam and had been deceived into transferring at least $200,000 to two bank accounts. Investigations revealed that $90,000 of the money was withdrawn by a 23-year-old Singaporean man who traded in cryptocurrency and was a member of a Telegram group chat along with Chia. It was found that Chia had advertised cryptocurrency services on the group chat and the 23-year-old man had reached out to him to buy USDT. The man was instructed to deliver the $90,000 in cash to the premises in Geylang, and received the USDT in his cryptocurrency wallet. As a result of this transaction, investigators discovered the operations on the premises and arrested Chia, Peh and Ho. Ng left Singapore on the same day to meet his uncle, and they both travelled to Cambodia. Ng eventually returned to Singapore some time around June 1, 2023, while Low remains at large. The prosecution asked the court to sentence Chia to between 10 and 12 months' jail. They said there was a high level of sophistication in the operation, that Chia knew a licence was required by MAS and that he had obtained personal financial gain from the offence. Chia's lawyers, Jeremy Pereira and Matin Razak of Withers KhattarWong, asked for a sentence of between seven and eight months' jail. They said their client had been given an active role by Low in managing the operations as he was the only employee with a diploma working there, and he was good with numbers. They said: 'It is clear that (Low), Javiour's employer, was the mastermind behind the entire scheme, not Javiour. 'Although Javiour oversaw the daily operations of the business, he acted purely on (Low)'s instructions.' Chia could have been fined up to S$125,000, jailed for up to three years, or both. - The Straits Times/ANN
The Star
8 hours ago
- The Star
Russian missile attack kills five in Ukraine's southeast
KYIV (Reuters) -A Russian missile attack on Friday killed at least five people and wounded more than 20 in the industrial city of Samar in Ukraine's southeast, officials said, the second strike on the city in three days. At least four of the wounded were in severe condition and were taken to hospital, regional governor Serhiy Lysak said on the Telegram messaging app. Officials gave no immediate details on damage in the city, where an attack on an unidentified infrastructure facility on Tuesday killed two people. Hundreds of kilometres to the south, in the Kherson region, authorities urged residents on Friday to prepare for extended periods without power after a Russian attack hit a key energy facility. Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram that "Russians decided to plunge the region into darkness". In recent weeks Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian cities, particularly its capital Kyiv, more than three years into the war that followed its full-scale invasion. The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched 363 long-range drones and eight missiles overnight into Friday, targeting a small western city of Starokostiantyniv, home to an important air base. There were no details on damage. (Reporting by Yuliia Dysa, writing by Olena Harmash, Editing by Aidan Lewis)
