KUALA LUMPUR: A woman has cautioned the public about being scammed by people pretending to be disabled while selling food on the streets.
Sharing her frustration, the woman, known as Eja Isa, recounted her experience on Facebook about helping a man pretending to be disabled while selling rendang.
In her post, Eja shared that she had noticed the man in a wheelchair selling rendang at a park near her neighbourhood for several weeks.
She said the man come in front of her house in an attempt to sell the rendang, shouting that the weather was hot outside.
Feeling sympathetic towards the man due to the difficult economic times, she decided to help him and buy the rendang.
"The rendang cost RM25 for two packets, but the portion was very small and I felt like I was being scammed.
"However, I felt sorry for him as he was a disabled person in a wheelchair and I bought it with the intention to help," she said in her post.
To her surprise, she saw the same man a week later standing up from his wheelchair and loading items into a car.
In the 25-second video, she showed the man, who had previously appeared disabled, being perfectly able-bodied. He was loading his goods and the wheelchair into a car.
"Today, in front of my eyes, I saw the same person standing and loading his items into the car. He was previously going around in his wheelchair, selling from shop to shop.
"His modus operandi is pretending to be disabled to gain sympathy and get people to buy. This is affecting those who are genuinely disabled."
Following her post, many others shared their experiences of being scammed by similar tactics.
In the comment section, some users remarked that while they often feel compelled to help those in need, there will always be a few people who exploit the kindness of others for personal gain.
"Malaysians are known to be kind, but there's no need to do this and tarnish the reputation of disabled people," said one social media user.