Teacher, chemist fall prey to scam - Police

MELAKA - A teacher lost RM42,000 after being deceived by a man she befriended on Facebook in a love scam.

Melaka Commercial Criminal Investigation Department head Supt E.Sundra Rajan said the 27-year-old teacher claimed that she befriended one Albert A. Adams through WhatsApp and during their relationship, the man told her that he would be sending her gifts and cash, totalling US$3,000 (RM12,631).

"Last March 29, the man told her that some of the gifts had been sent to her address and the woman confirmed that the goods had indeed arrived in Kuala Lumpur through a check via the Fast Express Shipping website,” he said in a statement today.

However, he said, the woman was told that the parcel was detained by the Royal Customs Department as it contained cash and there was no verification certificate.

He said the suspect then requested the woman to make the necessary payments for the release of the parcel, and as instructed, she made payments in stages amounting to RM42,000 between last March 30 and April 1,

"After the payments were made, the suspect promised her that the parcel would arrive at her address on April 1, but it did not and the suspect even asked her to make another payment of RM5,000 for the delivery cost.

"Suspecting that she had been cheated, the teacher lodged a police report at the Melaka Tengah police station last April 2,” he added.

In another case, Sundra Rajan said a 37-year-old woman who was a chemist became poorer by RM30,000 in a Macau Scam.

He said the scam started on April 1 when she received a phone call informing that she had arrears of RM4,663 in 'coin base' and that there was a transaction under her name, but she denied having opened such an account.

The call was then purportedly connected to Bank Negara Malaysia for her to update her personal information and then transferred to a police officer, who requested information on her bank accounts and banking information, including the Transaction Authorisation Code (TAC), he added.

He said the woman realised she was cheated and lodged a police report after checking her bank account and found that RM30,000 had been withdrawn.

Both the case are investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code. - BERNAMA