Someone lost RM24,000 to a face mask scam on WhatsApp

A 31-year-old woman claimed she made a purchase deal with a man on WhatsApp, who had advertised the sale of disposable face masks. The Pahang Commercial Crime Investigation Department Chief Superintendant Mohd Wazir Mohd Yusof said the woman had made a full payment for 400 boxes of face masks and was told that the delivery of the goods, through a courier service, would take three days. However, she ended up losing RM24,000 in the scam.

“The victim claimed that until yesterday, she had not received the goods. The suspect also gave various reasons when she questioned him for the delay and feeling cheated, she decided to lodge a report at the Jaya Gading Police Station here,” he said on the 8th April.

It was previous reported that the police have received 393 cases of fraud involving the sale of face masks in late March, and the losses from these reported cases are said to be RM1.1 million.

Besides face masks, a 20-year-old woman reported that she suffered losses of RM12,685.50 when she fell victim to a lucky draw scam, which also happened through WhatsApp. The victim claimed that she received a WhatsApp message notifying that her phone number had won a lucky draw worth RM12,000, and told the victim to make some payment before she could receive the money.

The suspect provided an account number where the victim had to transfer the money to, and it was only after she made 9 transactions to the suspect’s account that she suspected that she had been conned. The victim then lodged a police report.

[ SOURCE ]