JOHOR BARU: The Johor police received three reports involving scams with losses amounting to RM1.4mil.
Johor police chief Comm Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat said the reports were lodged on Oct 4 and Oct 5 involving victims aged between 36 and 46.
“The first case involved a local woman who befriended a foreign man through the TanTan app and was offered a gold investment with an 11% increase in return within seven days.
“The woman had made 78 transactions amounting to RM637,163 between May 6 and May 28 this year. The victim has yet to receive the promised return,” he said in a statement here on Friday (Oct 6).
The second case involved a local man who invested RM7,005 in a cryptocurrency website and received RM470 in return.
“The man then made 19 transactions amounting to RM451,887 into 16 different accounts between July 11 and Sept 29.
“The victim did not receive any returns after the payment was made,” said Comm Kamarul Zaman.
The third case involved a local woman who fell prey to a Macau scam. The victim received a WhatsApp call from an unknown man claiming to be from Pos Laju.
“The scammer told the victim that she had sent an illegal item held in Alor Setar, Kedah, to be sent to Kuching, Sarawak.
“The victim denied the matter before the call was transferred to another man claiming to be a police officer. The scammer instructed the victim to transfer her money to an account to help ‘investigations’ by Bank Negara Malaysia.
“The victim then made 15 transactions totalling RM322,270 to 11 bank accounts given by the scammers,” he said.
Comm Kamarul Zaman added that members of the public are advised to always be extra vigilant when making financial transactions online.
“They can also follow our social media account to get information on the latest tactic scammers use.
“The public can also call the National Scam Response Centre at 997 as an early prevention step to stop any financial transactions from the suspect account,” he explained.
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