A KINDERGARTEN teacher lost RM100,000 in savings after falling victim to an online fraud syndicate posing as her husband.
Johor Bahru South District Police Chief, Assistant Commissioner Raub Selamat said it all started when the 52-year-old woman received a message via WhatsApp using a foreign phone number.
According to him, the scammer is suspected of hacking into her husband's WhatsApp, who works as the general manager of a private company, and posed as her 'husband' to borrow money from the victim.
“At the same time, the victim’s real husband was abroad on business for a week in China.
“The scammer who hacked her husband’s WhatsApp disguised himself and told the woman that her ‘husband’s’ bank account could not be used for business purposes.
“Without thinking long and hard and doing some research, the victim continued to make seven transactions to three different accounts believed to be dummy accounts totaling RM100,000,” he said in a statement.
Raub said that after the woman completed the transaction, the victim immediately contacted her husband to ask about the repayment of the money she had lent.
He said that her husband told the victim that her WhatsApp number had been hacked and the woman realised that she had been cheated by a fraud syndicate before lodging a police report yesterday.
“The police have opened an investigation under Section 402 of the Penal Code. Further investigations are being carried out to identify the suspects involved,” he said. - October 27, 2025