A 65-year-old homemaker from Ipoh has found herself RM855,000 (US$210,000) out of pocket after buying a bag with the miracle cure for what two strangers told her was a “chronic disease” she had.
Inside the black plastic bag were fruits and juices, but sadly, no cure for a disease she never had.
Wary that she had been taken for a ride, she began to believe that the parties involved were shaman. Police have confirmed that a report was filed, and relayed to The Star the events leading up to incident. At 10:00am on November 28th, the victim was at Menglembu market when she overheard two female Chinese nationals discussing a herbal tree that could “cure any diseases.”
Coconuts KL would love to know the name of that purported tree.
Eager to find out more, the victim followed the two women into a silver-colored car. The duo then told her that she had a chronic illness, and she needed to treat it immediately before infecting her family.
As a condition to providing a cure, they then told the victim to give them all of her valuable possessions. She went home to collected RM195,000 (US$50,000) in foreign currency, two watches valued at RM60,000 (US$15,000) and jewelry worth approximately RM600,000 (US$150,000). She then rang the number the suspects had given her, and they instructed her to wait for them at a nearby school.
She then exchanged her valuables for a black plastic bag, and was told to open it only after one month. Sensing something was off, she opened it Tuesday, to find that she had only been given fruits (probably spoiled by now) and juices.
The woman was unaware of the suspects’ identity, and could only relay that the women were Chinese nationals.
This isn’t the first time Ipoh-area markets have been the scene of shaman and cures: earlier this year, an elderly woman claimed that a hex was cast on her while grocery shopping, and it compelled her to give strangers her life savings.
