KUALA LUMPUR: Hartalega Holdings Bhd has pursued legal action against glove froundsters who claimed to be authorised agents or representatives of the rubber glove manufacturer.
Hartalega chief executive officer Kuan Mun Leong said it was gravely concerned by the escalating behaviour of the glove scammers, amid a global shortage of the product due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Kuan said Hartalega had taken action against them and had lodged several police reports over the past few months.
"Further to this, we have initiated litigation against one of the perpetrators, with court proceedings ongoing.
"We are in discussion with our legal counsel to initiate further legal action or recourse against other scammers," he said.
According to Kuan, the scammers had claimed to have ready stock and allocation of Hartalega's own brand nitrile and latex gloves, GloveOn.
He said their fraudulent schemes included claiming to be stock allocators for Hartalega, requesting for payment to be deposited in escrow or third-party accounts and utilising social media to solicit business.
"Hartalega advises buyers to remain vigilant. All orders go through Hartalega directly and only emails sent from our domain @hartalega.com.my are genuine.
"We never solicit any business on social media, nor do we solicit for payment via social media. We produce to order and given the global shortage of gloves currently, there is no excess stock or capacity," he said.
Kuan said the GloveOn products bought in Malaysia were for the local consumption and not for export purposes.
"We deal directly with our officially appointed distributors listed on our website at and do not appoint brokers or re-sellers for re-export.
"We do not collaborate with any other factories within Malaysia or any factories outside of Malaysia to produce or pack our gloves, nor do we appoint any third parties to represent Hartalega for export of our GloveOn brand," he said.
Kuan said the fact that people were being misled by these fraudulent operators was a very serious crime, particularly given the fact that gloves were critical personal protective equipment, especially for those in the healthcare industry.
"We urge all buyers to beware of these glove scammers," he added.