Pilot crashes in social media love scam

JOHOR BARU: A female pilot who was feeling lonely befriended a man on social media and started exchanging love messages with him for almost two months.

In the end, she not only had her heart broken, but was also duped of almost RM650,000 after her supposed sweetheart asked her to join a business scheme.

The woman, in her 30s, made almost 30 transactions to about a dozen mule accounts within a span of one month.

The victim only realised she had been duped when her “lover” continued to press her for investments even after she had told him that all her life savings were gone.

Police sources said that the incident occurred when the pilot befriended a man who claimed to be a Singaporean, via social media in June.

“The suspect was able to win the woman over with sweet talk and asked her to join a business as a cosmetics agent.

“He assured her that this business was legitimate and she would be getting a hefty commission,” a source said, adding that the woman was told to invest the money via an online platform and she would get the capital and commission.

Sources said that within a short span of knowing the man, the woman believed him and began transferring her savings of almost RM650,000 to various accounts.

“The man kept on pestering the woman to continue investing, promising her that her capital and commission would be returned soon.

“Unable to take the harassment, she lodged a police report several days ago,” the sources said.

In another scam, a man in his 60s was cheated of RM400,000 in a bogus cryptocurrency deal several days ago.

Sources said the victim was enticed into making an investment after coming across a deal online promising quick returns within a short period of time.

“Believing it to be true, the victim signed up and was given a platform to trade and within two weeks, he had transferred the money to about eight different accounts.

“The victim only started suspecting something amiss when a contact person claiming to be from the cryptocurrency company called, alleging that the victim’s money had been seized by the US government and that the victim would need to pay a fine of 3% from the total amount invested,” the source said.

Meanwhile in another scam, a retiree was coaxed into depositing almost RM150,000 of her savings into 34 mule accounts within a period of four months.

Sources said that the woman, in her 50s, had seen an online advertisement offering high return investments.

“To further convince the woman to invest, the scammers also claimed that they had the backing of Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Bhd.

“The woman felt that her investment was growing well, but the problem began when she wanted to make a withdrawal,” the sources said, adding that the woman also lodged a police report.

A police official urged the public to be cautious when making large transfers to various accounts online, and to always use the Semak Mule mobile app or go to https://semakmule.rmp.gov.my to check if any of the bank accounts or phone numbers concerned have been associated with suspicious activities.