JOHOR BARU: A 22-year-old university student fell victim to a job opportunity scam and lost almost RM73,000 yesterday.
Johor Baru (South) district police chief Assistant Commissioner Rauf Selamat said the woman had been offered a part-time job that could generate a lucrative monthly income via Telegram Messenger.
She was told that she would receive a 10 per cent commission on the items she advertises online. However, the catch was she had to purchase the items first.
The victim was also required to buy the items before becoming a part of the online advertising team.
Falling for the scammers' cunning and convincing techniques, she invested RM72,877 to buy the items.
The woman realised that she was duped when the promised items were not delivered nor did she receive any commission.
Rauf said the victim lodged a police report yesterday after the scammers asked her to bank in an additional investment for the commission to be paid.
The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
He also advised the public to always check with the Commercial Crime Investigation Department's Portal Semak Mule at https://ccid.rmp.gov.my/semakmule to verify phone numbers and bank accounts that have been blacklisted.
In cases where victims suspect that their bank accounts have been accessed by a third party, they should contact the National Scam Response Centre at 997 immediately to freeze their account.