Harumanis online scam leaves retired teacher RM67k poorer
KUALA TERENGGANU: A retired teacher lost RM67,573.63 after falling victim to a syndicate involved in a non-existent online purchase scheme.
OCPD Asst Comm Azli Mohd Noor said the 61-year-old woman from Wakaf Tengah saw an advertisement on the sale of the Harumanis mangoes on Facebook on May 20.
He said the contact person then gave her a purchase code for verification.
'However, at about 10am the next day, she found that all her bank savings had vanished.
'Upon checking, the victim found that several transactions had occurred, transferring funds from her bank account to an unknown account,' he said yesterday, Bernama reported.
ACP Azli said the victim then lodged a police report on Wednesday.
The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
In SIBU, an elderly housewife fell victim to a non-existent online investment fraud syndicate when she was deceived of RM447,300 by the lure of lucrative returns.
Sibu police chief Asst Comm Zulkipli Suhaili said they received a report from the victim, in her 60s, on Wednesday.
'On Jan 11 this year, the victim met a woman who introduced herself as 'Ah Chong' via Facebook before contacting another suspect using the name 'Amy' via WhatsApp.
'The suspects offered the victim to participate in a stock investment scheme via a WhatsApp group known as 'Programme VIP012',' he said in a statement.
ACP Zulkipli said after seeing testimonials from other investors who allegedly made lucrative profits, the victim agreed to participate in the investment named 'JP Morgan Family Office'.
'They said the victim only needed to make a payment into the account provided with a guarantee that the profits would be deposited into the account uploaded in the name of 'JPFO Max'.
'Later, she became excited after finding the high investment profits and continued to make 33 money transfer transactions between April 16 and May 20 to five local accounts,' he said.
When informed that the total accumulated profit had reached RM800,000, ACP Zulkipli said the victim requested a withdrawal but the suspects claimed that the investment was still ongoing and required additional capital.
The victim finally realised that she had been cheated and came forward to file a report.
ACP Zulkipli said the public can check the list of companies or websites that have not received approval via the Bank Negara website at www.bnm.gov.my or contact BNMTELELINK at 1-300-88-5465, as well as the Securities Commission of Malaysia at www.sc.com.my or 03-6204 8999.
They can also check via the Investment Checker application or the website https://www.sc.com.my/investment-checker.
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