KUANTAN: A retired teacher lost RM1.8 million in less than 60 days after falling victim to a fraudulent investment scheme advertised on Facebook last month.
The 71-year-old victim from Temerloh was deceived into believing that he would receive returns of up to 30 per cent and decided to invest his savings in the scheme.
Pahang police chief Datuk Seri Yahaya Othman said the victim had seen the advertisement on Facebook last month and decided to participate by clicking on the provided link.
"He was added to a WhatsApp group where he was instructed to download an application called Cap Max from the Google Play Store. The victim was told to provide his details, a copy of his MyKad and bank account number.
"The victim was enticed with promises of returns of up to 30 per cent and invested RM10,000. A few days later, he checked the application and saw that he had received significant returns from the scheme.
"Assuming the returns would keep growing, the retired teacher made 21 transactions totalling more than RM1.8 million into six separate bank accounts. He only realised that the scheme was a scam when the agent continuously pressured him to invest another RM2.84 million," he said in a statement today.
He added that the victim had attempted multiple times to withdraw his profits using the Cap Max application but was unsuccessful and subsequently lodged a police report yesterday.
Yahaya said the victim claimed to have lost a total of RM1,875,199 after participating in the scheme since last month.
He said the case was being investigated for fraud and urged the public not to be deceived by investment schemes promising large returns.