Kuching pedicurist loses RM158,000 to online job scam

Dato Mancha Ata

KUCHING, Nov 23: A local pedicurist in her early 30s was duped out of RM158,000 after applying for a part-time ‘work from home’ position advertised on a Facebook page called ‘Rock Space’ in mid-November of this year.

In a press statement, Sarawak police commissioner Dato Mancha Ata said the report was received on Nov 22.

“The woman, who works at a nail salon here, was reportedly interested in a part-time ‘work from home’ position offered by a Facebook page called ‘Rock Space’ in mid-November of this year.

“The victim claims that the job offer did not require any payment until she was asked to click on a given link to continue the part-time online job. After clicking on the link, the woman was prompted to ‘top-up’ a specific amount of money into bank accounts provided by the suspect who posed as a customer service representative.

“The suspect then instructed the woman to transfer a total of RM158,000 from her bank account to nine unidentified bank accounts in the middle of this month. According to the victim, she received a commission of only RM397.30 from the online work,” Mancha said.

He further explained that the victim became aware of the scam when she was unable to withdraw the RM158,000 and her commission from the provided e-wallet.

“The victim then stated that the suspect had demanded an extra RM50,000 to allow her to withdraw the funds from the e-wallet.”

Mancha added that the victim had filed a police report to initiate further investigations. — DayakDaily