- Ted Perry, 1971

COMMENT | You wake up one morning. You check your land title. A stranger’s name stares back at you.

This happened to Chen Wei Pin, a Taiwanese businessperson. Someone placed a private caveat on his Selangor land. The caveat claimed he sold the property. He had not. The documents were forged. The land office was fooled. Chen was left fighting for what was rightfully his.

His story is not unique. In three years, nearly 500 land scam cases surfaced in Malaysia. Losses approached RM300 million. Each case represents a family’s shattered dreams. Each victim trusted the system. The system failed them repeatedly.

Land scammers are chameleons. They adapt and they evolve. They exploit every weakness in our system. Here are their favourite tricks...