Conned into buying ‘RMMJ’ houses

So close yet so far: One of the affordable homes projects that the middlemen promised to deliver to buyers in Johor Baru.

JOHOR BARU: Their dream of owning a home is now in ruins. Dozens of people, mostly from the lower-income groups, have been duped in a fraud that targets those who are eager to benefit from the state’s affordable housing scheme.

The Johor government is shocked that so many have been tricked into paying money that were meant to ensure the purchase of Johor Affordable Homes (better known as Rumah Mampu Milik Johor or RMMJ).

Instead of securing homes in Bandar Dato Onn in Tebrau or Horizon Hills in Iskandar Puteri, the victims have each lost up to RM13,000.

The scam, said to be the biggest so far involving RMMJ houses, has made more than 70 people a lot poorer. Many of them have lodged police reports and have complained to the Johor Housing Secretariat (SUK Perumahan).
All the victims handed their money to “middlemen” who had promised that the houses would be ready by the end of last year.

However, the conmen, comprising a gang of more than 10 people, have either disappeared or have given excuses for delays in the projects.

One of the victims, Nurazwin Aziz, 27, said that she had befriended a woman who told her in the middle of last year about the housing project in Bandar Dato Onn.

“The woman told me that she could help get the RMMJ houses as she was a property broker who had connections with the state’s housing secretariat,” added Nurazwin, whose brother-in-law also went through this woman to get another home in the same project.

Both “buyers” paid RM13,000.

Nurazwin claimed that the woman was very convincing and even brought her and her brother-in-law to the area to view the houses.

“The woman claimed that she would handle the loan procedures for the RM130,000 house,” she said, adding that the sums they paid were supposed to be down payment for the houses.

She and her brother-in-law had looked forward to receiving the keys to their homes by the end of 2018 but there is no sign that this would happen at all.

“We decided to lodge a police report and now the woman claims that she too was cheated in this scam,” Nurazwin said, adding that she only wanted her money back as this was her savings to buy a house in Johor.

She added that their dream of home ownership had been dashed because this syndicate preyed on those desperate to buy houses in Johor.

Johor Housing and Rural Development Committee chairman Dzulkefly Ahmad said this was the biggest RMMJ scam so far.

“It is shocking as there are many victims. We have advised them to lodge reports and we hope the police will investigate and take action against those responsible.

“We have also done our own internal checks and found that the SUK Perumahan employee named by the conmen does not exist,” he said, adding that the SUK Perumahan staff members had been warned against involvement in any such wrongdoing.

Dzulkefly urged those applying for any kind of affordable homes in the state to do so online without using middlemen.

“There are scammers who try to take advantage of people who want to own houses,” he said.

Meanwhile, a police official said that police were investigating these cases under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.

He added that the SUK Perumahan should tighten its procedures for online applications to prevent “third parties” from applying for homes on behalf of others.

“They should make it compulsory for the applicants to do it (apply online) themselves or to apply at the SUK Perumahan offices as we found that some middlemen were able to charge fees and put in applications for other people,” he said.

The police official pointed out syndicates were charging thousands of ringgit as fees when the application process itself was free.- Star