Bintulu company director cheated out of RM120,000 in online purchase scam

Dato Mancha Ata

KUCHING, Jan 20: A company director from Bintulu lost RM120,000 to an online purchase scam.

Sarawak Police Commissioner Dato Mancha Ata, in a statement today, said the victim, in his early 60s, was contacted through WhatsApp by unknown individuals earlier this year claiming to be from a government department in Miri.

According to Mancha, the suspect also forwarded a purchase order documentation involving a Polycarbonate Natural Anodised Aluminium Sliding Window to the victim’s company for one of the government department offices in Niah, Miri.

“The suspect then emphasised to the victim that the material purchased must be of the ‘Jeng Cheng’ brand and can only be acquired from one supplier in Miri.

“The victim later made another contact with another unknown man after being given a contact number by the suspect, who claimed to be a supplier of the ‘Jeng Cheng’ brand and had made three online money transactions with a total of RM120,000 to one bank account that belongs to an unknown individual in January to purchase the order,” he said.

Mancha said the victim realised he was scammed after not receiving the purchased materials.

In addition, he added, the government department involved also confirmed to the victim that there are no business deals made with his company regarding the office upgrading work,” he said.

The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating and dishonestly inducing a person to deliver any property to any person. — DayakDaily