JOHOR BARU: An octogenarian lost more than half a million ringgit after being scammed in a bogus investment deal he came across on social media.
Kluang OCPD Asst Comm Bahrin Mohd Noh confirmed that the 80-year-old male victim lodged a police report on Wednesday (Feb 26) claiming to be cheated in an online investment scheme.
“The victim was going through Facebook when he saw a stock investment advertisement on the social media platform and became interested to know more about it.
“He then communicated with an unknown individual, only through WhatsApp, who promised the victim that he would receive huge profits based on stock price increase,” he said here on Thursday (Feb 27).
ACP Bahrin added the victim was then instructed to register on a website which allows him to see the profits he made by investing through the scheme.
“Assuming that this is real, the victim then carried out eight payment transactions starting in September 2024 until earlier this month into three different bank accounts amounting to RM562,000.
“To this day, the victim has not received a single cent of profit while he failed to communicate with the suspect and could not even access the portal,” he said, adding that the case was being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code.
ACP Bahrin urged the public not to easily believe investment advertisements they found on social media and should immediately carry out checks with the relevant agencies.
He said the public should also follow the police social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok so that it can open their minds to find out about the latest modus operandi on commercial crime.
ACP Bahrin added for more information, the public can visit any nearest police station or contact Kluang police district hotline number at 07-776 6822.
