SHAH ALAM: A trader in Gombak suffered losses of over RM1.6mil after he fell victim to a non-existent online investment scam.
Selangor police chief Datuk Hussein Omar Khan said investigations revealed that the victim, 56, was duped by the suspect via the WeChat application.
“The suspect sent a link, instructing the victim to download the investment app for the platform and deposit funds into their account.
“Several days after transferring money into the app, the victim found that the investment had made a profit,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Hussein said the victim tried to withdraw the profits but couldn’t and was instead given excuses such as the need to pay taxes and “cross-border transfer fees” for the withdrawal process, reported Bernama.
He said the victim was also asked to make additional payments to withdraw the profits.
“The victim then made 44 transactions to the suspect, involving four different accounts, amounting to RM1,688,725 before realising it was a scam when the promised profits could not be withdrawn,” he said, adding that the victim lodged a police report on Saturday.
He added that the Selangor police Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) opened an investigation paper under Section 420 of the Penal Code.
“The public should always be cautious of online investment schemes and investment apps. They should verify the legitimacy of stock investments with Bank Negara Malaysia and the Securities Commission Malaysia,” he said.
To date, the CCID has identified over 200,000 mule bank accounts, with hundreds of them being registered to businesses that scam syndicates use to receive and move their ill-gotten gains.
Bukit Aman CCID director Comm Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said data showed that by the third quarter of this year, nearly RM1bil had been lost to scams nationwide.
He disclosed that victims had lost more than RM914mil in various scams across Malaysia as of August.
At least 28% of the sum was siphoned from senior citizens aged above 61.
