KUALA LUMPUR: At least 200 people in the city have been conned of nearly RM10mil since early last year by Africans who entered the country on student visas, but never once stepped into a classroom.

Although these so-called “students” are enrolled in top colleges under fake scholarships, they are more often spotted cruising in flashy cars and frequenting nightspots.

These Africans are believed to be conmen who plied their shady trade overseas before dumping their ill-gotten gains in local banks and “settling down” here.

However, once here, they continue their activities by duping Malaysians of their life savings, using bank accounts of locals to cheat their victims, who are mostly single successful women, either divorced or widowed.

Among the most common scams are tricking Malaysians into paying for non-existent gifts, buying coloured water as “vaccines” to keep cattle healthy and disease-free, and “black money” cases.

City Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Asst Comm Izany Abdul Ghany, who revealed this, said it was alarming that despite numerous warnings, Malay­sians continued to fall into the conmen’s trap.

He said scams operated by Africans topped the list of commercial crime cases in the city, reeling in the largest amount of ill-gotten money.

“The numbers are rising. Between January last year and June, locals in the city alone were cheated of nearly RM10mil, and the figure could be higher because some victims are still unaware that they are being conned. “The scams are committed throughout the country but the exchange of money usually takes place in the city,” ACP Izany said, adding that over 100 women and 80 men were conned since early last year.

ACP Izany said checks showed that these Africans had committed similar scams in other countries before coming to Malaysia.

“After these syndicates are busted, they enter Malaysia by using fake scholarships apparently given by their country of origin.

“Once here, most of them never even step into the classroom as they are too busy cheating our people,” he said.

ACP Izany said many of the women conned would freely give up their money after being swept off their feet by Africans who lured them with sweet talk and promises.

“The conmen target single women in their 30s and 40s. The victims include doctors and university lecturers,” he said, urging higher learning institutions and relevant agencies to scrutinise carefully the applications of foreign students.

Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department’s Cyber and Multimedia Investigation Division assistant director ACP Mohd Kamarudin Md Din said in some cases, the victims had met the conmen through social networking websites. They would usually post pictures of other people, sometimes of famous models, just to get closer to the victims.

“By using pictures of other people, these conmen are already committing an offence of identity theft,” he said, adding that despite repeated warnings about people using false identities on the Internet, Malaysians were still being duped.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin said there was a “small number” of foreign students involved in crime here, most of whom had entered the country illegally.

He urged the police to provide the ministry with relevant information so that appropriate action could be taken.

the worse part is seeing our local gals got "pasang" by these Africaners - wonder if these gals really wants them as boyfriends or just wanna " try out " something which the local boys don't have.

yes. can never trust them.

like one of my friend said, they're actually very smart and intelligent, but used their brain for the wrong reason.

some are blacklisted already in their homeground but somehow,still managed to sneak into our country,posing as students. younno,for some just by looking at their appearances and behaviors, you know they're not bona fide students - their body language just gave them away. for some ,they're real students,getting top in their classes and these are the Africaners that our city welcomes. hopefully,the Authority can come out with a better/effective/stringent and responsible module in screening these tipu punya " students ". onces they landed - its too late already

i did try reply the email (you have family in africa die in accident) hahah..just want to know what they really want(of course they want to cheat my money)...first he did contact my phone..and ask to meet him( that time i was in kl.)

he topd me bla bla bla..want to invest some money in some project in Malaysia and ask me looking for several project

2nd time we met,he introduce to me some chemical and show me blank paper with money size ..then he show some process..changing the white paper into 10 pieces of Rm 50...

so he said he got about 100,000 more that kind of paper and request some investment for him to get some of"magic liquid" that can change the paper into realll money..

haha..he think i was born yesterday ..hehheso i agreed and told him i will try to get investor for this money project..then he give me the 10 magic money (Rm 50 note=equal to RM 500) he told me,you can use the money everywhere coz it look like the ral money..of course it is the real money..hehe

so ten and then i contact him and told him there is investor want to invest the project but i need 3 to 5 thousand to bring the investor and the money from sarawak to kl..(i want to get him back)

then this"awang hitam" suddenly get quite and dont contact me anymore.luckily i have RM 500 angpow from him..hahahha

thrasher, unfortunately many was like "born yesterday" and contribute 10mil to Nigeria already. lol

Oh! those people! not that i am a racist!

China-men/women, Indon-workers, Africans.... we are attracting the wrong kind of people. Kuching has indeed become an international port of some sort. Once private colleges come to terms with the fact that Africans is a source of income, floodgate will be opened for more distress. Can we track their numbers? Lets track their distribution and growth. The census should be done to track number of aliens and their distribution in Sarawak.

there is few living near my house.

2 male and female students lived together. after a year. i even see a new born baby with them.

Quote: waa...that means the new born baby is Anak Sarawak lo...