KOTA BARU: A retired civil servant here was duped out of RM480,000 by a love scammer, recently.
The woman, in her 50s, was conned by a man she had befriended on Facebook in September.
"According to the victim, who is a single mother, the local man claimed that he works in the oil and gas industry in the United Kingdom.
"After (one month of online friendship), the man told the victim that he wanted to send her RM650,000.
"Then, at the end of last month, the victim was contacted by a woman claiming to be an officer from Bank Negara Malaysia. She told the victim that her Facebook friend had transferred money through the bank.
"To process the transaction, she said the victim needed to pay a certain sum so that the money would not be frozen," said state Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) chief Superintendent Ahmad Azizul Mohamed.
Two weeks later, the victim made transactions amounting to RM480,000 to the alleged bank officer.
"(When the RM650,000 did not materialise) the victim realised that she had been cheated, and lodged a police report on Friday," Ahmad Azizul said.
He added that Macau, love and parcel scams have been on the rise in the state.
"The state police recorded 86 Macau scam cases between January and July this year, with losses amounting to RM3.2 million.
"The complainants involve 42 men and 44 women," he said.