Advice needed. Contractor scammed me RM5k, promises to pay me back but it's been 2.5 years and he has not

[missourian101]

Want your opinion. So a few years ago, I hired a contractor to do my house. Ordered a bunch of reno items from him totalling up to about RM5k. He made me bank into his personal account (not company — RED flag but i was not aware back then). I thought no scamming issue, since a lot of people were using him in the condo I was moving into.

Turns out he DID scam a bunch of us. He did not deliver those items, excuses after excuses.

A few of us victims banded together and filed police reports. The contractor came and talked to the police, promising in a written document to give back my money at 3 intervals/ chunks of payments throughout 3 months. He signed the document in front of the police, and I got it chopped (stamp duty).

Fast forward about 2.5 years and this contractor only paid me a little bit, 15%. He still owes me RM4k++. He paid off the debts from some other victims of my condo, but not all. He has not blocked me and keeps promising to pay, e.g. "next monday i will have money, will pay you then", and when that time comes, he will just ignore me. It's been going on for 2.5 years...

I don't know what to do. Go to small claims court? Tribunal? But some people tell me hiring a lawyer is expensive and longwinded.

I was thinking of passing his number to an ahlong that was part of this contractor's 'business' (whom he cheated also). Or tampal his face everywhere in KL, but am afraid of getting caught by him too.

This guy is a nuisance. Last time told me "why I want to scam you 5k? I go drinking every night also a few thousand ringgit worth of beers d". He would also drive huge luxury cars and "show off" to me. Bastard. I have his IC and I have his kampung address.

What do you think I should do? Just fully ignore it and treat it as an expensive lesson learnt?

 

[amrie]

@missourian101 Go to Small Claims court. You have a lot of proof in the form of text history, police report, banking transactions (to determine the pending amount).

EDIT: The fees for small claim courts are very reasonable, You can search online for it.

 

[iessuman]

@missourian101 Go watch “Beef” on Netflix. Then ask yourself if it’s worth it to try and get revenge.

Best options are small claims or accept the loss and learn and move on.

 

[missourian101]

@iessuman Will try Small Claims. I thought of moving on but think of his 'yeung shui' face just makes me sick. How he was flaunting his luxury cars to me and said he lives so luxuriously, "why need to scam ikan bilis like me" etc.

 

[iessuman]

@missourian101 I get it bro. Moving on is always easier said than done.

Just remember that if you hate someone they will always own you until you find a way to let go.

 

[ravensfan]

@missourian101 Name and shame. Scammers like this need to be viraled so to warn others.

 

[hopefulinchristname]

@ravensfan As much as I would love to do this, I would also like to note that you are at risk of libel.

Of course, you can fight, and the truth is a defence against libel, but this step might be unnecessary. But should you proceed, please ensure that it is factual and without malice. You can consult a legal advisor for this.

 

[theotokos12]

@missourian101 You don’t need a lawyer for small claims, not more than 5k. Based on what u have said, you have a strong case with the police reports and agreements signed by the contractor. Go for it

 

[missourian101]

@theotokos12 Thank you. I will! Will prepare the evidence.

 

[dongchau123]

@missourian101 2+ yrs. no need wait , just small court claims terus

 

[eeevie]

@missourian101 His strategy is to obviously scam a “little” from everyone, ideally around the 5k range, so that his final scam sum is BIG (also enough to pay his accomplice which acted as a clients said nice things about him) but no individual one will bother to chase him till the end of time, since it’s a small court issue and many will feel not worth the time. It sounds to me like a rather elaborated plan, the fact that he quoted every items lower than outside.

The problem is if you don’t name and shame, he will likely perform the same stunt again in another new condo where he can start fresh.

 

[missourian101]

@eeevie how do you think i could go about naming and shaming him? post his face/IC in as a graphic with the wording "SCAMMER"? make a blog about him? anonymous fb posts? I just don't want him to know it's me. He seems like a very aggressive loan shark/violent kind of guy, uneducated and crass... don't want him to come for me...

 

[anarchist23]

@missourian101 Send a Notice of Demand to the Contractor. If there's no response, file a Writ of Summons at the Small Claims Court and obtain a Judgment in Default (cuz most prolly he wouldn't heed to the Summons). Then, because you have information on his accounts and more, get a lawyer and proceed to Garnish the contractor's bank account. The Garnishee Proceedings are all ex-parte (one-sided) so he probably won't see it coming until after Judgment Absolute.

TIme frame for everything : about 3 months

 

[missourian101]

@anarchist23 thank you for this very professional insight! will definitely try your steps. I will go straight to the Small Claims Court. He doesn't care about any 'demand' for now. I also dunno what will happen to him after this Judgment Absolute thingi. Will he be forced to attend to the courts by cops at his door? I also dunno.. this is all very new to me. Thanks.

 

[anarchist23]

@missourian101 your welcome, usually these 'insights' from me will have an invoice attached to it hehe, anyways rest assured there would be no cops involved in the above proceedings. Like I said its all done one-sided, so at the end of the day he will only receive a letter from the bank stating that his bank acc has been frozen and RM5k (or whatever's left in the acc) would be transferred to your account.

 

[tctruongson]

@missourian101 Small claim court anytime any day since you have that guy written document with stamp. IANAL but this sounds like an easy case for small court claims

 

[modesta]

@missourian101 This is why I’ve learned not to pay any contractor in full until work is all done. Pay them in stages. Even wait a while more afterwards to make sure things are acceptable quality before making final payment.

 

[missourian101]

@modesta This guy ... haiz. He 'con' a bunch of us in this new condo project. A girl told us "hey got this guy with cheaper costings" etc. Basically anything outside, he will quote cheaper, so a few of us kena con by his good prices. And because he has a positive testominial from another resident, we thought "no problem". Mana tau still kena con. And the horrid thing is this person who gave the testimonial was his childhood friend/worked under him for a few months. I confronted her about it but she said she knows nothing about him / his conman ways. And doesn't know his whereabouts too.

The red flag for me was he gave his personal account number for the banking ins, not his company account.

 

[modesta]

@missourian101 On top of unscrupulous businesses, any Tom, Dick and Harry call themselves a contractor in Malaysia. No certification or standards = low quality.

 

[anamichele07]

@missourian101 what if, i have the similar case but the amount acvumulated is around 194k?