BALIK PULAU: A housewife here learnt a bitter lesson when she lost RM280,000 to a Love Scam syndicate, recently.
The 56-year-old from Taman Sri Genting here had transferred the money in stages between October last year and yesterday.
The affair began in August when the victim met a man on Facebook who identified himself as ‘Edin Teyul’ from London.
Their relationship progressed, and the duo exchanged telephone numbers and were soon in contact via WhatsApp.
“During their chats, the man told her that he was heading to Singapore for a business meeting.
“On his way there, the man claimed that his aircraft had encountered some problems and that rescuers from Miri had come to their rescue.
“But while in Miri, the man claimed that he had been detained by Immigration officials for bringing in cash and gold bars beyond the permissible limits.
“To solve his problem, the man had asked to borrow US$3,000 from the victim, and provided the bank account number of a woman to which to transfer the money,” Southwest district police chief Superintendent A.A. Anbalagan said today.
He said the victim initially transferred RM3,000 into the AmBank account, the details of which were provided on Oct 11 last year, supposedly to facilitate the preparation of new documents for ‘Edin’.
Anbalagan said on Nov 1 last year, the victim transferred another RM130,000 to the same account, as two per cent payment to Immigration officials in Miri, for the amount of cash and gold bars brought in by the man.
“The man continued to ask for more money and the victim transferred RM4,000, RM6,000 and RM10,000 into the same account on three separate occasions.
“On Monday, the victim again transferred RM42,000, RM30,000 (on Tuesday) and the last payment was RM55,000 yesterday.
“When the man continued to ask for more money after she had transferred RM280,000 in total, the victim became suspicious and felt that she had been cheated. She then lodged a police report,” he added.
The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code.
Anbalagan said despite repeated warnings, gullible Malaysians still fall victim to such scams.
“Remember – don’t simply believe strangers, especially those who ask for money or banking details,” he warned.