Two engineers lose RM251,620 after falling for online scams

BUKIT MERTAJAM - Two male engineers in Central Seberang Perai here lost a total of RM251,620 of their savings to two separate online scams last week.

Central Seberang Perai district police chief ACP Tan Cheng San said in the first incident, an engineer of a factory in Kulim, Kedah, who lived in Machang Bubok here lost RM126,000 after falling victim to a non-existent work scam and lodged a police report on March 22.

"The man, 41, saw a part-time data entry job ad on Facebook on March 18 and clicked the link and communicated with the suspect on Whatsapp and provided him assignments.

"The victim claimed he was instructed to open the Youtube app and look for a page name, and then like and subscribe to the page. After that he would need to screenshot the completed assignment before being paid RM10 per assignment. He was paid RM50 for the first five assignments,” he said in a media conference here today.

The victim was also promised a 20 per cent commission for each assignment but would need to pay some money upfront to qualify, which he believed, and made 10 transactions totalling RM126,000 to seven different accounts from March 18 to 22.

Tan said although the victim had deposited the money, he did not receive the promised commission and realised he had been scammed and lodged a police report.

He said the second case involved an engineer, 27, who lost RM125,620 after falling for a non-existent lucky draw offering prizes worth RM326,000 on March 17.

"The victim, who lives in Bukit Tengah, initially received a phone call from the suspect pretending to be from a Hong Kong company and asked the victim to guess the song to win a prize,” he said.

The suspect then contacted the victim to inform him that he had won the lucky draw but needed to pay a sum of money for account registration.

The victim believed the suspect and made three transfers totalling RM125,620 to three different accounts and only realised he was scammed when the suspect asked for an additional RM50,000.

"Further investigation is being conducted to track the syndicate,” he added. - BERNAMA