Police probing tourist's claim of cops extorting $800

Police probing tourist's claim of cops extorting $800


Published: Mar 6, 2025 7:31 AM
Updated: 10:33 AM


Summary

• Police are investigating allegations that two officers in Pudu extorted $800 from a tourist, though no official report has been lodged.

• A netizen claims he was stopped at 3am, searched without reason, and accused of money laundering due to a cryptocurrency app on his device.

• The netizen later manages to recover the money at the Dang Wangi police headquarters, and even allowed to scold the ‘bad apples’ in front of their colleagues.

Police are investigating allegations circulating online that two of its personnel had extorted money from a tourist in Pudu, Kuala Lumpur.

“Our checks found that no police report has been lodged so far, but further investigations are being conducted,” said Dang Wangi police chief Sulizmie Affendy Sulaiman in a statement last night.

He was responding to reporters’ questions about allegations made on the online forum Reddit, where a netizen posted on March 1 claiming two police patrol officers extorted $800 from the tourist.

The netizen claimed to have encountered the patrol at 3am in Pudu while walking from a restaurant to a hotel.

The two officers supposedly stopped and searched the tourist without providing any reason, including to demand the unlocking of his phone and tablet, where they found an adult-themed Telegram channel and a cryptocurrency trading app.

“They make a big deal out of those Telegram channels as well as the Crypto Exchange app they found.

“They saw how much crypto I had and tried to frame me as a crypto money launderer or scammer, citing that simply having an account is illegal. They mention the court could cost me $10k etc.

“This was my first time dealing with police (I never even deal with police in my home country) so you can imagine how panicked I was given I was walking alone at 3am and having my first ever police check,” the netizen wrote.

The netizen did not disclose the date of the incident or specify the currency of the amounts mentioned throughout the post.

‘Never visiting M’sia again’

Following the search, the netizen claimed the two police officers led him to an alley to demand $400 each, for a total of $800.

“They even took me with their bike to my hotel, gave me only a key card and asked me to fetch money in five minutes.

“I only got my phone, tablet and wallet back after giving them money.

“This scarred me and shattered my views on Malaysia (this is the third time). I know it's some bad apples but I am not visiting Malaysia ever again,” he added.

Money returned, tourist scolds cops

In a bizarre twist, the netizen also claimed to have gotten the money back after going to the Dang Wangi district police headquarters, and was even permitted to scold the two officers in front of other officers.

“I thought those guys were scammers pretending to be the police, but when officers at Dang Wangi confirmed they are indeed officers, I couldn't believe it,” the netizen added in a subsequent comment.