GEORGE TOWN – A 63-year-old widow here lost RM3.9 million to an Instagrammer, an amount believed to be among the biggest ever lost to online scammers in the state.
The victim was apparently enamoured with the scammer who claimed that he was from South Korea, working on an oil rig here in Malaysia.
The person contacted the victim several times over Instagram over the past few months and a friendship blossomed over time since December.
The conman then began discussing a business proposition with the victim, who somehow fell for his charms and photographs.
She started withdrawing money and depositing it to his account as collateral for the venture.
However, on March 18 this year, the victim realised that she was scammed after the person disappeared and could not be traced, while the bank account to which she had transferred money was also closed.
She lodged a police report, saying that up to RM3.9 million of her hard-earned savings went lost in the scam.
“The victim withdrew and deposited in a now-empty account through a total of ten transactions since last December. She realised that she was deceived earlier this month,” state police chief Datuk Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain told a media briefing here.
He advised people to be careful when dealing with people online, especially over money.
In other news, Shuhaily revealed that police had made two huge drug busts at Bukit Mertajam and George Town respectively on March 17 with a seizure of narcotics, vehicles, and properties worth RM764,662 in the black market.
The cache could serve the needs of up to 192,800 drug users in Penang.
A total of four suspects were detained in the two raids conducted by the narcotics special squad, who also seized five vehicles belonging to the suspects.
They have been remanded to facilitate investigations, Shuhaily said.
He also revealed data from the narcotics division here showing that from January 1 this year until March 19, police have hauled up to RM8.2 million worth of drugs, properties, and vehicles linked to drug lords operating here.
Police have detained 2,773 suspects over the same period and shut down the operations of seven syndicates operating in the state. – The Vibes, March 21, 2022
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