JOHOR BARU: Two doctors have fallen prey to fake parcel and investment scams within a span of less than two weeks, resulting in losses amounting to almost RM2.8mil.
The latest incident was reported several days ago when a female doctor, in her 20s, received a call from a courier delivery company, alleging that she had a parcel with prohibited items.
A police official said the doctor, who works at a government hospital here, panicked when she was contacted by a man identifying himself as a policeman from Sarawak, who threatened to freeze her account if she failed to assist in investigations.
“The victim was then directed to move her money into five different accounts totalling RM150,000 over a period of two weeks until early September,” the official said.
The doctor only realised she had been duped when the scammers refused to return the money.
In an earlier case, a 45-year-old doctor lost RM2.6mil after being duped by an online investment scheme promising high returns.
He was first attracted to an advertisement promoting the overseas-based investment scheme on a social media platform on May 25.
The official said the suspect promised the victim returns of between 5% and 15%.
The victim made a total of 56 transactions to eight accounts of different banks from May 25 to Aug 8.
“He realised he was cheated after he was unable to withdraw the money using a monitoring application,” the official said.
In another unrelated case, a 72-year-old tour guide lost RM125,000 to a bogus investment scheme advertised on social media.
Johor Baru South OCPD Asst Comm Raub Selamat said when the victim clicked on the link, he was added to a Telegram group.
“After discussions, the victim was convinced when offered a scheme that promised profits of up to 200% of his capital,” he said.
ACP Raub said the man made 12 bank transactions amounting to RM125,000.
“He only received RM100 in profit and was then asked to make additional payments, to release his profits,” he said, adding that the victim then realised he had been cheated.
Scam victims are advised to call the National Scam Response Centre at 997 to lodge a report.
The public can also call the CCID Scam Response Centre at 03-2610-1599, or check Semak Mule or Facebook (@jsjkpdrm and @cybercrimealertrmp).
