GEORGE TOWN: An account manager from a private company lost RM1.36 million after falling victim to an online investment scam in the Barat Daya district recently.
Penang police chief Datuk Hamzah Ahmad said the Commercial Crime Investigation Division of the Barat Daya district police headquarters received a report last Monday from the 70-year-old man, who claimed he was the victim of a fraud syndicate.
“According to the victim, he came across an investment advertisement in late December last year, shared via WhatsApp, promoting a stock trading scheme that promised returns of 8 to 15 per cent on the invested capital within two months.
“Interested, the victim downloaded an application called ‘BIONM’, registered as a member, and made 14 money transfers to four different accounts, totalling RM1.365 million,” he said in a statement today.
Hamzah said the victim only realised he had been deceived when he was asked to make an additional RM1 million payment as a commission to BIONM to withdraw purported profits of RM11 million that had allegedly accumulated in the application.
He added that further investigations are ongoing, including efforts to trace the fraud syndicate’s network, and the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
