Elderly woman loses RM800,000 to digital investment scam

A LOCAL woman in her 70s lost RM800,000 to a digital investment scam which promised a return of USD5 million.

Sarawak police commissioner, Datuk Mancha Ata said the woman senior citizen was duped when she was attracted to the investment return in digital coin which was purportedly operated by a company called Accerx based in Hong Kong via Facebook.

“The victim then clicked on a link before her phone number was automatically added to the WhatsApp group 'X-4 Beacon of the stock market.

"After that, the victim dealt with a woman who posed as a representative of Accerx and the suspect gave information about cryptocurrency investment and said the victim could earn 20 to 30 times profit," he said in a statement.

Mancha said the victim agreed to buy the 'coin' in US dollars (USD) and was given an ID to enable her to access the www.accerxq.com website for investment purposes and monitor her profits.

"The victim made four payments totalling approximately RM800,000 through online money transfers, cash deposit machines and bank counters to deposit money into two bank accounts in the name of an unknown company at the end of this month for various purposes such as verification fees, handling fees etc.

"The victim only became aware of being cheated after failing to withdraw the profit amounting to approximately USD 5 million, and the suspect even asked the victim to pay a tax amounting to RM1.2 million if she wanted to withdraw the investment money and profit," he said.

The case is now being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating by inducing the delivery of property and if convicted, can be jailed for not less than a year or 10 years and caning. - Bernama, February 1, 2024