SHAH ALAM – Irresponsible parties seize the opportunity to ask for payment of up to thousands of ringgits to manage funeral arrangements during the Covid-19 pandemic.
A non-governmental organisation VCEE’s logistic staff Muhammad Lutfi Hakimi Abdullah revealed that his friend was almost duped by the syndicate or cartel who set the payment at RM3,000 to handle the father’s body who died of Covid-19.
Lutfi said fortunately the friend contacted him first to get his opinion as he worked with an NGO that managed funeral arrangements.
" I immediately said that it was a cartel that tried to manipulate victims and advised them not to give money and not to deal with them (syndicate) again,” he said.
Lutfi said the cartel knew how to manipulate the situation by immediately contacting the victims who were in grief.
"What’s weird is that they have data on people who have lost their loved ones so quickly. It's as if something has already been arranged.
"Throughout my experience, the charges are not that high so it is a weird if someone asked for thousands of ringgit to manage funerals.
"I hope with this revelation, many people take note that there are cartels that want to take advantage of the situation," he claimed.