M'sian Designer Christy Ng Reveals How 'Event Organisers' Conned Her And Business Owners
"The management told me that they could not force the organiser to give us refunds because the mall was never paid in the first place."
By Tamara Jayne — 06 Aug 2018, 06:10 PM
Renowned Malaysian shoe designer Christy Ng revealed how she was allegedly scammed by several con men within the past two years
In a Facebook post uploaded on 1 August, Christy warned the public about a scam artist who had robbed her company of thousands of Ringgit.
It all began on 31 July 2017 when Christy revealed that a man had solicited a total of RM17,920 from her company and several other businesses
The man claimed that he goes by the name, Patrick Goi, from a company called Pangoi International.
He apparently offered rental space to various small businesses, including Christy Ng, to promote their products at Melawati Mall, Ampang.
Christy mentioned that when they set up their booths on the first day of the event, the mall's management told them to leave as the "organiser" had not paid for the rental space at all.
"When contacted, the management told me that they could not get involved or force Patrick to give us refunds as the mall was never paid by him in the first place," she said.
In an exclusive interview with SAYS, Christy said that Patrick went into hiding when all of the vendors demanded for refunds
"His modus operandi is simple. He goes around contacting small business owners saying that he has event spaces to rent in shopping malls. He then collects the rental money from the vendors and runs away with it," she told SAYS.
Christy Ng, who began selling shoes at night markets, eventually opened her company in 2012 which specialises in custom-making shoes.
Image via Astro AwaniChristy finally resorted to making four police reports on the case in the past year as Patrick had not responded to any of her calls and messages
She revealed that she later bumped into him at MyTown mall and when she confronted him, he "ran away like a coward".
When she shared this story on social media, several other business owners started opening up to Christy saying how they had also been scammed by the same man.The fashion designer went on to explain that the police had not done anything to solve the case.
SAYS has tried to contact Patrick Goi via email for a statement regarding this matter but the email bounced back. There was also no response from the phone number on the company's website.
Patrick was said to have contacted Christy through the same phone number.
Taking it as just one bad experience, Christy decided to put it all behind her and to consider the stolen cash as a "donation" to the con artist.
However, this year, she encountered a similar situation with another party.
During the interview, she said that Asia Islamic Fashion Week (AIFW) was cancelled twice this year as the event organiser had not paid for rental space.
"Usually industry practice is to give the full payment upfront," Christy replied, when asked if it is common to pay the complete amount instead of a deposit.
The organiser of AIFW had allegedly collected monies from designers all across the world since January 2018.
"The first event was cancelled in March because the organiser had not paid the deposit for the venue - Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC)."
Christy informed that there was supposed to be a second AIFW event in July, which was cancelled again because the hall rentals had not been paid for
As a result, the event, that was meant to be held from 26-29 July at Matrade Exhibition and Convention Centre (MECC) was cancelled.
Christy mentioned that she had demanded for a refund from the organiser who quickly paid her two days later when she threatened to publicly expose her.
However, Christy spoke to several designers from Brunei, Indonesia, and South Africa, and found out that they had not been refunded since March for AIFW.
"Both rounds, the organiser had collected the rental and fashion show fees from designers all over the world," she said.
"Most of the designers feel embarrassed to admit that they were conned for fear that it makes them look bad," the fashion designer revealed, which is why she felt the need to bring this issue to light
She told SAYS that she is currently working on a website to reveal the identities and information about these scam artists as a warning for other businesses.
Christy concluded by reminding the public to always make thorough background checks and to confirm the legitimacy of event organisers and companies before doing business with them.