Single mum loses RM225,900 in love scam
MELAKA - A single mum lost RM225,900 in a love scam to a man she befriended on Facebook since October, last year.
Melaka police Commercial Crime Investigation Department (JSJK) chief, Supt E. Sundra Rajan said the 48-year-old woman who is a human resource officer in a private firm, was in regular contact via WhatsApp with the suspect.
The man claimed to be a Malaysian citizen, a widower and had a business abroad.
"To gain her trust, the suspect had asked the victim to do transactions for him from his West Business Finance account involving US$42,000 to a Bank of China account just to show he was someone with money.
"The suspect provided the account details and password that were in his name to the victim in order for her to conduct the transactions," Sundra Rajan said in a media statement, here, today.
He said the suspect had requested the victim's help again to do a money transfer from the same West Business Finance account to a Maybank (Malayan Banking Bhd) account belonging to the suspect's mother. However, the transfer of RM10,000 was unsuccessful.
Following this, the suspect asked the victim to advance a sum of money to be transferred to another account claimed to be his mother's account.
The victim did not have any suspicion as they were to marry in January, this year, and thus transferred the RM10,900 to the account number provided by the man.
"The man once against asked the victim to transfer money from the West Business Finance account amounting to RM2.5 million to the account of a law firm by claiming that the payment was for the purchase of a house in Setia Alam, Selangor.
"Again, the transaction was unsuccessful as the transfer of such a large amount had to be sanctioned by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Therefore, the suspect asked the victim to transfer this money to the IMF, and she made eight money transfer transactions totalling RM215,000 to the account given by the suspect.
He said the victim then realised that she had been cheated of her savings of RM225,900 that was transferred to an unknown account.
The victim lodged a police report at the Bandar Hilir police station on Feb 26 and the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code. - BERNAMA
