A PROGRAMMING manager at a factory in Bayan Lepas, Penang lost more than RM2.3 million after being caught up in a love scam involving a man introduced by her aunt.
The 53-year-old woman is said to have first met the suspect who introduced himself as Perry Chen, supposedly a Singaporean living in Ottawa, Canada.
Acting Penang Police Chief Datuk Mohd Alwi Zainal Abidin said the victim was introduced to the suspect through her aunt named May in February last year.
He said the victim's aunt was said to have intended to set the victim up with the man whom she met while attending a seminar together in Kuala Lumpur.
“During the introduction, they only communicated via the WhatsApp application and the suspect told her that he was running an electrical grade installation business with the Omani Government.
“In March 2024, the suspect asked the victim to help transfer money to purchase raw materials for his project through the suspect’s account on the grounds that internet access in Oman was unstable.
“The woman helped by accessing the suspect’s account and trying to make the transfer as instructed by the suspect, but was unsuccessful because it involved different countries,” he said in a statement today.
He added that the suspect then asked the victim to pay the bank service charges first and promised to pay the victim back.
He said that the victim, who was caught up in a cyber romance and trusted the suspect, made 58 transactions to nine different local bank accounts between March 28 and August 18 last year, involving a total of RM1,936,818.67.
“Following that, in September 2024, the suspect stated that he had deposited a cheque totaling US$404,500 (RM1,715,000) into the Heritage Asset Bank Oman account to repay the money.
“The victim was then allegedly contacted by the bank’s customer service officer at the Malaysian branch who stated that she needed to pay bank charges if she wanted to cash the cheque.
“The victim again made 13 transactions into five different local bank accounts totaling RM399,407 between September 25, 2024 and July 4 this year,” he said.
Mohd Alwi said the victim only realised she had been deceived after finding that the reasons given for the payment of bank charges were unreasonable and that she had suffered huge losses before coming forward to make a report at the Timur Laut District Police Headquarters yesterday.
The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating, he added. - August 9, 2025
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