A 68-year-old woman in Johor lost RM257,172 after falling victim to an online love scam syndicate. The senior citizen befriended the scammer, who supposedly worked in the United States through Facebook, about three years ago.
Johor Commercial Crime Investigation Department Chief ACP Mohd Salleh Abdullah said that the suspect promised to marry the victim. The suspect also claimed to have sent USD750,000 (RM3.1 million) in cash through a money transfer agent for the purpose of purchasing a house and vehicle for the victim.
However, the woman was then contacted by an individual posing as an agent from Kuala Lumpur, who had asked the victim to make a payment of RM300,000 as “customs processing fees and remittance tax”. She mentioned that she didn’t feel suspicious at first because the scammer would send the money back to her.
“Following that, the woman made eight transactions since July 11 until her money ran out. The woman became suspicious after the suspect asked to settle the payment before deciding to lodge a report at the Sentral police station here,” said the Chief.
He also mentioned that the woman, who is unemployed, made the transactions using her late husband’s savings. She also additionally borrowed more money from friends.
“The public should be more vigilant and exercise caution when dealing with such syndicates. The public should check with the police first if they come across such a case before making any dubious transactions,” advised the Chief.
In early August, another Johor-based woman lost RM60,000 to a scammer who impersonated her favourite Singaporean actor, Desmond Tan. In July, a 90-year-old woman was cheated RM3.83 million through a phone scam.
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