A 38-YEAR-OLD lorry driver discovered too late that he had fallen victim to a fraudulent investment scheme, losing RM74,000 of his savings, after attempting to verify his investment with a legitimate property developer.
Pekan police chief Superintendent Mohd Zaidi Mat Zin said the victim had befriended a woman via a chat application in September, before switching to regular communication on WhatsApp.
“The woman persuaded the victim to invest with a property developer, promising lucrative returns. The victim made several transactions amounting to RM74,000 into six different bank accounts,” he explained.
Zaidi added that the lorry driver became suspicious after failing to receive the promised profits and stopped investing once he had exhausted his savings, though the woman continued to pressure him for more payments.
When he visited the property developer’s headquarters, he was shocked to learn that the company had never offered such an investment and that the investment website was fraudulent.
He lodged a police report on October 30.
In a separate case, a 55-year-old lecturer lost RM41,000 after falling for a non-existent gift redemption scam.
Zaidi said the woman received a call last month from someone claiming to represent a telecommunications company offering her the chance to redeem reward points or claim a mobile device.
“The victim decided to redeem the points and received a text message containing a link, which she was instructed to fill in with her banking and credit card details.
“Soon after, she received several text messages from her financial institutions informing her that her credit card had been used and cash had been withdrawn from her accounts, amounting to RM41,034,” he said. She lodged a police report on October 28.
Zaidi urged the public to verify any bank account numbers received from unknown individuals via [https://semakmule.rmp.gov.my/](https://semakmule.rmp.gov.my/) before making any transactions. - November 2, 2025
