Beware Of Scams: Woman Cheats People Of Over $630k With Beauty Packages

From 2016 to 2019, a Malaysian woman, Ong Siok Yong, aged 35 cheated 24 victims of more than $630,000. She had been working at a weight-loss firm and a skincare company where she invented beauty packages on her own to cheat vulnerable customers. 

Apparently, she invented a ‘model package’ while working in a weight-loss firm called Bottom Slim in 2016. She offered the package to her regular customers and priced it according to their spending power. Later on, she started working at a skincare firm Asian Skin Solution where she continued her scam works.  

According to a victim who bought the package in 2018, she had to pay about $24,000 to sign up for the package. She was required to use the company’s treatment services at least twice a month and pose for photographs to document her progress at regular intervals. 

After signing up for the beauty package, the victim was asked to transfer more than $23,000 to Ong's personal bank account since Ong claimed that her boss did not have a bank account. 

According to Ong, the firm would pay the victim monthly reimbursement of $1,166.60 for 36 consecutive months, totalling $41,997.60. 

However, the victim failed to receive any reimbursement. She only received intermittent payments of up to $1,000. Ong then asked her to sign up for a second ‘model package’ claiming that the outstanding reimbursements would be applied towards this second package.

The cycle went on a few more times until the victim had handed over more than $100,000 and received reimbursement of only about $33,000. The scam activities carried out by Ong came to light after her employer Asian Skin Solution lodged a police report in June 2019. 

Ong’s employers have taken measures to mitigate the loss of their customers. According to Deputy Public Prosecutor Joshua Lim, 

"Though they declined to make any money payments to the customers that the accused had promised, they are in the process of arranging to provide customers with treatments and products to compensate them for their investment.

"They have also reimbursed some customers for transfers which were made to the company."

[Source]