Woman loses over half a million ringgit to investment scam

JOHOR BAHRU - A local woman, 42, lost over half a million ringgit after falling victim to an investment scam on Facebook last May.

Johor police chief Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat said the woman lodged a police report at 3.15 pm at the Kempas police station here yesterday, stating that she was offered an investment opportunity by a local woman with a return of RM28,000 a month.

"The victim made 14 transactions to four different accounts totalling RM672,491 from May 30 to July 11,” he said in a statement today.

In a separate case, a woman, 71, fell victim to a phone scam and lost RM202,800, he said, adding that in a police report lodged two days ago, the victim said that she received a message from an individual claiming to be a Bank Negara officer stating that her credit card had been used.

He said that the scammer then passed a telephone number to the victim, purportedly belonging to a police officer named Inspector Loh Tee How.

The victim was provided bank account information and made five transactions to two bank accounts from July 13 to 14, he said, adding that both cases were being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code. - BERNAMA