SHAH ALAM: A company manager lost RM2.65 million after falling victim to a non-existent investment scheme advertised on the social media platform Facebook.
Selangor police chief Datuk Hussein Omar Khan said the 54-year-old local man was lured by an advertisement on Facebook and clicked a link that redirected him to the WhatsApp messaging platform.
“The victim contacted a woman who introduced herself as ‘Wendy Lim’, purportedly an investment instructor, and was briefed on the investment scheme,” he said in a statement.
He added that the victim was subsequently added to a WhatsApp group and followed the investment programme for two months.
“At the initial stage, the victim received a return of RM100,000, which boosted his confidence in the investment,” Hussein said.
“Following that, the victim made 44 fund transactions totalling RM2,652,000 to nine different bank accounts. The transfers were made after he was shown an alleged profit of nearly RM8 million on the investment platform,” Hussein said.
He added that when the victim attempted to withdraw the purported profit, he was told to make several tax payments to facilitate the process. Sensing something was amiss, the victim eventually lodged a police report in Shah Alam.
In a separate case in Sepang, Hussein said a 69-year-old German national lost more than RM3 million after falling victim to an online scam involving individuals posing as representatives of the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).
According to him, the scam began with an email instructing the victim to open a UBS Bank account in Malaysia, where a large sum of money was allegedly going to be deposited.
“To access the funds, the victim was asked to make tax payments to IRB and BNM. Between Feb 11 and April 14, 2025, the victim transferred a total of RM3,089,800 through 25 transactions before realising he had been deceived and filing a police report,” he said.
Hussein said police have since opened two investigation papers under Section 420 of the Penal Code.
