GEORGE TOWN: An account manager from a private company lost RM1.36mil after falling victim to an online investment scam.
Penang police chief Datuk Hamzah Ahmad said the Commercial Crime Investigation Division received a report from the 70-year-old man, who claimed he was the victim of a fraud syndicate.
“According to the victim, he came across an investment advertisement in late December last year, shared via WhatsApp, promoting a stock trading scheme that promised returns of 8% to 15% on the invested capital within two months.
“Interested, the victim downloaded an application called ‘BIONM’, registered as a member, and made 14 money transfers to four different accounts, totalling RM1.365mil,” he said..
Hamzah said the victim only realised he had been deceived when he was asked to make an additional RM1mil payment as a commission to BIONM to withdraw purported profits of RM11mil that had allegedly accumulated in the application.
In another case, a government retiree claimed to have lost RM229,800 after being tricked into participating in an investment scheme that did not exist.
Seberang Perai Tengah police chief ACP Helmi Aris said the 62-year-old victim claimed he was lured into investing in the scheme by an Indonesian woman, known as Zizah.
According to the victim, the woman contacted him on March 4, thinking that he was a plumber and asked why he had not turned up at her house for repairs.
“Since then, the victim and the woman were in frequent contact via telephone conversations and during one of the conversations, she invited the victim to invest in the scheme by promising lucrative returns.”
The victim initially made seven transactions in small amounts to five different bank accounts and received a return as promised.
He made seven more transactions, but did not receive any returns and lodged a report after realising he had been cheated.
