KOTA KINABALU: A caterer lost over RM23,000 after getting cheated over a business deal recently.
The victim, a man, had received a call from a person impersonating to be a member of the armed forces, claiming that there was a three-day event and that they needed food catering.
Kota Kinabalu acting police chief Supt Kalsom Idris said according to the victim, the suspect had ordered 150 meal sets for three consecutive days.
He said the suspect told the victim that he would pay for the meals once they were ready for collection.
The suspect also offered the victim to be a middleman for them in supplying ready-to-eat meals for the military, he said.
"The victim was told to pay a 50% deposit to a so-called supplier for the ready-to-eat meals worth RM63,000," Supt Kalsom said, adding that the victim deposited RM23,525 into an account provided by the suspect.
On the day the suspect was supposed to collect the food, he did not show up.
There were also no ready-to-eat military meals delivered to the victim, Supt Kalsom said.
It was later found that there were no such army personnel in the camp here and there were no such functions at the moment.
The victim lodged a police report at around 7.58pm on May 30.
She said police had so far received five reports on similar incidents as this.
Supt Kalsom advised businesses to be wary of such scam.
She said investigations were ongoing to trace the suspects.
