KUANTAN: A 55-year-old retiree has lost RM260,388 after falling victim to a non-existent investment scheme.
Pahang police chief Datuk Seri Yahaya Othman said the victim was attracted to the investment scheme after being told that it was syariah-compliant and offered high profit returns.
“The victim began participating in the scheme in early December last year with a RM500 investment that brought in RM110 in profits, prompting him to invest a larger amount. He was then given a link to register on a website for monitoring stock movements.
“However, when the victim sought to withdraw profits in the third week of the month, a suspect demanded he pay an investment tax first.
The victim made 14 online transactions to five accounts, but only realised he had been cheated when he was continuously refused permission to withdraw the promised investment returns,” he said in a statement today.
Yahaya said the victim lodged a police report at the Kuala Lipis police station yesterday.
In a separate case, a 50-year-old nurse in Jerantut was cheated of RM105,000 by a Macau scam syndicate member, posing as a National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) officer.
According to Yahaya, the victim resorted to taking a personal loan and pawning her jewellery after being deceived into believing that she was involved in money laundering activities.
He said on Nov 26 last year, the victim received a call from an “NSRC officer” claiming to be investigating a money laundering case involving her.
“The call was then connected to another individual who claimed to be a police officer and instructed the victim to transfer cash into four bank accounts for investigation purposes.
“The victim lodged a police report yesterday after attempts to contact the suspect failed,” said Yahaya. - Bernama
