JOHOR BARU: A beautician's dream of kickstarting her own business turned into a nightmare after losing more than RM150,000 to a scam.
Seri Alam OCPD Supt Mohd Sohaimi Ishak said that the victim lodged a police report on Nov 20 after being duped by a syndicate offering non-existent bank loans on social media.
“The incident started on Nov 11 when the 38-year-old victim came across a financial loan advertisement on Facebook, which used the name and logo of a local bank.
“The victim, who wants to start her own business, then contacted the loan representative through WhatsApp where she was given further information about the loan regulations,” he said here on Wednesday (Nov 27).
Supt Mohd Sohaimi added the victim was promised an easier process with fast approval but with a rule that she must make several advance payments first.
He said believing the offer, the victim agreed to take a loan of RM300,000 where she followed the suspect’s instruction of making 18 payment transactions between Nov 16 and Nov 20 to 14 different bank accounts.
“The victim used a total of RM156,468 from her savings to make the payments but she still did not receive the loan as promised.
"The suspect still told her to make more added payments by giving many excuses.
“She became suspicious with the suspect where she made checks with the bank and found out that the loan did not exist before lodging the report,” he added.
Supt Mohd Sohaimi said the case was being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code where the investigation would also cover whether mule bank accounts were being used and action will be taken against such account owners.
He urged the public to always be careful and not easily believe any financial offers that promised fast and easy processes that they come across on social media.
Supt Mohd Sohaimi said the public should use the national scam response centre, the police commercial crime investigation department info line, and "Semak Mule" to get further information or make checks with relevant agencies before making payments.
