JOHOR BARU: A housewife lost RM93,300 of her savings after being duped by an online investment scam.
Johor Baru South OCPD Asst Comm Raub Selamat said the 55-year-old victim came across an advertisement on social media for an investment promising high returns of up to RM100,000 in a short period.
“The interested victim sent a message to the TikTok account before being connected with customer service through a chatbox.
“The woman was then asked to make a payment as investment capital,” he said in a statement on Saturday (Jan 24).
He added that the victim made 20 transactions between Dec 25 last year and Jan 21 this year, totalling RM93,300, to three different bank accounts.
“However, after the payments were made, the victim was still asked to make additional payments for the purpose of withdrawing the promised profits.
“The victim realised she had been scammed and came forward to lodge a police report on Friday (Jan 23),” he said.
ACP Raub said further investigations are ongoing, including checks on the bank accounts involved, tracing the account owners and examining the communication lines used by the suspects.
“Preliminary checks through the Commercial Crime Intelligence System found that all accounts used by the suspect so far have no prior fraud records, but are suspected to have been misused by certain parties for fraudulent purposes.
“This case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code, which provides for a prison term of one to 10 years, whipping and a fine if convicted,” he said.
He also advised the public to always be cautious of any investment offers that promise extraordinary returns and not to make any financial transactions without verifying with the authorities or legitimate financial institutions.
