Man in Miri loses over RM230,000 to online share investment scam

MIRI (Feb 22): A man in his 30s filed a police report on Saturday claiming the loss of over RM230,000 to an online share investment scam.

Miri police chief ACP Mohd Farhan Lee Abdullah said the complainant was attracted to an investment offer through a website in October last year and was instructed to open an account for investment purposes.

“The victim also joined a WhatsApp group that displayed profits allegedly earned by other members, which convinced him to proceed with the investment,” he said in a statement.

Mohd Farhan said the complainant initially invested as little as RM100 and received a return of RM700 credited to his account.

He added this convinced the complainant to make larger investments, with a total of 27 transactions involving RM233,950 made to 21 different accounts.

“The victim only realised it was a scam when the website operators kept requesting further payments without delivering the promised profits,” he said.

Mohd Farhan advised the public to be cautious of investment advertisements that promise high returns within a short period.

He said victims of cyber scams may contact the National Scam Response Centre hotline on 997 if they have just transferred money to a syndicate account.