JOHOR BAHRU: An international school staff member lost RM190,000 after falling victim to a cryptocurrency investment scam that promised high returns.
Seri Alam District police chief Supt. Mohd Suhaimi Ishak stated that the 50-year-old woman lodged a report yesterday after being unable to access her funds.
Mohd Suhaimi explained that she was introduced to the scheme by a local man she met on Instagram, who demonstrated the investment process and presented the purported high-profit projections she stood to earn by joining the scheme.
“Lured by the suspect’s offer, which also featured a luxurious lifestyle supposedly funded by the investment, the victim downloaded the investment application. Between June 10 and July 16, she made six payments totaling RM190,000 via the Luno Malaysia app for cryptocurrency purchases and transferred them to another wallet account on the same app.
“Although the victim could see the high-profit graphs, she was unable to withdraw anything but instead asked to make additional payments to access the funds,” he said in a statement today.
“The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for fraud, and possible involvement of money mules.
“The public is advised to exercise caution and avoid trusting investment offers that promise easy, quick, and high returns. They should utilise online resources provided by the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID), such as the National Scam Response Centre, the CCID infoline, Semak Mule, and the CCID PDRM Facebook page, to verify information before making any payments,” he said.
