PUTRAJAYA: The Home Ministry has cautioned the public of attempts to fraudulently seek thousands of ringgit in sponsorship by a person claiming to be the ministry's secretary-general Datuk Seri Mahmood Adam.
Mahmood said the ministry recently found out the man, claiming to be the secretary-general, had asked several foreign workers' agencies to sponsor a gala dinner by buying tables priced at between RM15,000 (S$6,314) and RM30,000 (S$12,609) each.
He said the imposter sent notifications to several agencies claiming that they were among 10 bumiputra companies chosen as sponsors and asked them to buy the tables.
"To make it seem official, the bogus secretary-general faxed fake forms to the companies after speaking to them on the phone," he said when contacted yesterday.
Mahmood said he found out about the fraud on Tuesday when the owner of one of the agencies the imposter had contacted, called him to check on the authenticity of the supposed event and the sponsorship request.
"The Home Ministry would like to clarify and stress that it has never organised events like the dinner the imposter is claiming we are holding.
"We advise any other company suspecting it has fallen prey to this fraud to file a report with the police as soon as possible," he said, adding the ministry lodged a police report over the matter in Putrajaya at 7am yesterday.
Putrajaya district police chief Asst Comm Abdul Razak Abdul Majid confirmed a report was lodged.