Fallen prey: Chong (second from left) with his deputy Ivan Tan (right), lawyers Marcus Chong (left) and Arun Ganesh Boopalan (second from right) with the victims. — SAMUEL ONG/The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: The bait was free cooking lessons and the trap was an “investment opportunity” for housewives.
But before she could hone her culinary skills, a 39-year-old housewife was “burnt” to the tune of RM300,000.
Known only as Khoo, she spotted an invitation on Facebook to join a cookery group in September last year and signed up shortly afterward.
She was later added to a WhatsApp group where several sweet-talking individuals shared cooking videos and promoted supposedly successful business models designed for housewives to earn extra income.
“I was drawn to it and decided to sign up.
“Strangely, I was instructed by several individuals, who claimed to be the company’s bosses, not to share details about their group because they may face legal action.
“Though feeling uneasy with their request, I went ahead to invest in the scheme,” she said at a press conference held by MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong at Wisma MCA yesterday.
Khoo said she was tasked with searching for low-priced airline and event tickets through an artificial intelligence app that she was instructed to download, and then reselling the tickets for a profit.
She transferred RM300,000 as capital between Nov 1 and 12 for the money-making scheme and had duly performed her task.
Khoo suspected something amiss when she tried to withdraw her earnings and was given excuses, along with instructions to make further payments as withdrawal processing fees.
“The app showed I had made profits of about RM3mil but several technical glitches occurred over the next few days before I was contacted to make another deposit of RM300,000 if I wanted to make withdrawals,” she said.
She added that subsequent attempts to contact other members in the group proved futile.
Although she had lodged a police report on Nov 23 after realising she had been duped, Khoo said she continued to receive calls from various numbers, which she believed were from scammers.
Chong warned the public to be wary because scam syndicates are constantly finding new and creative ways to dupe unsuspecting victims.
He added that his department handled about 50 scams cases since 2024, with losses amounting to about RM40mil.
In a separate case, a 55-year-old manager saw his RM1.6mil savings wiped out after falling for a stock investment scam.
The man, who identified himself only as James, said he received a WhatsApp message in November from an individual claiming to represent a Singaporean investment company.
James was subsequently contacted by a woman who shared stock investment tips, through which he made a small profit.
“I was then offered to invest in an initial public offering (IPO) involving a China-based company.
“I was instructed to download an app and subsequently transferred RM1.6mil in 16 transactions,” he said.
The app eventually showed he had made a huge profit – RM7mil.
“I tried withdrawing the sum last month but I was asked to bank in more money if I wanted to do so,” he said, adding that he has since lodged a police report.
He claimed there were others who were also cheated by the same syndicate, with one victim losing RM6mil.
