The Royal Malaysia Police posted that they have nabbed a suspect who is believed to be involved in a PlayStation 5 scam. The scheme has resulted in more than 200 victims and a total loss of possibly RM1.5 million.
“I confirm that the suspect is 23 years old, and has been successfully caught by police in Penang,” said The Director of JSJK Bukit Aman, CP Mohd Kamarudin Md Din.
Kosmo reported that before this, there were 26 official police reports regarding the case. It all resulted in the accumulative loss of RM99,468. However, MyGameOn reported that the actual loss could be even higher at around RM1.5 million according to an alleged Telegram group that belonged to the victims of the scam.
However, according to the Telegram screenshot, there was only a total of 170 victims—who each lost about RM2,850 each, give or take. It also said that it resulted in a total loss of about RM1.5 million, which doesn’t make any sense. 170 X RM2,850 only results in RM476,000, not RM1.5 million… so take it with a grain of salt. Still, there could be other price points that I couldn’t see. According to Kosmo’s report, the individual sold the PS5 RM500 higher than the retail price. The PlayStation 5 Digital Edition officially retails for RM1,869 while the Blu-ray version is going for RM2,299 in Malaysia.
The suspect has been arrested after showing up at the Timur Laut Police Station in George Town at around 12pm on 14 November 2021. The case is currently being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code, which can result in several punishments including a jail term of between one to 10 years, whipping, and a fine.
The number of victims is likely due to the fact that the PlayStation 5 is very hard to get. And it will be even harder to get as Sony is reducing the production numbers of the console from 16 million units made by March 2022 to 15 million units.
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