2 fall victim to online fraud in Kuching, losing over RM740k to scammers

Dato Mancha Ata

KUCHING, Nov 14: The Sarawak Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) is currently investigating two online fraud cases involving losses amounting to RM740,000.

In a statement, Sarawak police commissioner Dato Mancha Ata said the first case involved a woman in her 60s, who is retired from the private sector, incurring losses worth RM200,000.

He explained that the victim received a message through Facebook from a friend known as ‘Aliana Soh’ in early October this year.

“The suspect said the victim’s name has been listed among winners of a contest called the ‘United Nation & Facebook Programme’ and was randomly selected by Facebook.”

He said the victim was promised a prize of USD100,000 before the suspect gave the phone number of an agent to contact to claim her ‘prize’.

“The victim contacted the ‘agent’ via WhatsApp and was asked to make various payments before the ‘prize’ could be redeemed, resulting in the victim making 17 transactions worth RM200,000 to six bank accounts in October.

“She only realised she was deceived when she was still asked to make additional payments while never receiving the USD100,000 prize moeny, prompting her to lodge a police report,” he said.

The second case involved a man in his 50s who lost RM540,000 in an online investment scam.

“The victim, who works in the public sector, reported to have known a man named ‘Chong’ through Facebook in July this year, who introduced to the victim a cryptocurrency investment scheme promising huge profits through a platform called ‘Yomaex’.

“Interested, the victim opened two investment accounts in the platform and performed 43 transactions worth RM540,000 to 16 bank accounts with various company names from July to October this year,” he said.

He added that the victim only obtained returns twice worth RM8,400 and realised he was scammed when he could not access the platform or contact the suspect, causing him to lodge a police report.

Both cases will be investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, in which the accused could face imprisonment of one to ten years, whipping, and a fine if convicted. — DayakDaily