Broker loses RM37,330 to Love Scam

JEMPOL: An engineering business broker lost RM37,330 when she was duped by a Love Scam syndicate through a man she befriended on social media on Feb 13.

Jempol district police chief Supt Hoo Chang Hook said the woman from Felda Gugusan Raja Alias befriended a Linkedln account owner known as Ali Rahman, and they regularly chatted about life experiences and engineering-related issues via WhatsApp since both of them are in the same field.

"However, in April, the man told the victim that he had received the final payment for a contract work from a company and named her as the beneficiary of the payment," he said in a statement today.

Hoo said the payment was allegedly made through Unisys Security Agency Company (UK), and the man asked the victim to contact the agents to claim the balance of the contract payment.

The victim was asked to make payments to six different bank accounts, involving eight transactions amounting to RM37,330, to facilitate processing of the payment claim.

Hoo said the victim realised she was cheated when the suspect asked her to make additional payments. She then lodged a police report on the same day.

Meanwhile, Hoo said a 56-year-old backhoe driver from Bahau was cheated of RM20,000 by a Macau Scam syndicate after being duped by a telephone call on Sept 10 that claimed he owed the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) tax arrears amounting to RM176,000.

"The victim was then connected to another party claiming that the victim had a record of involvement in drug smuggling and money laundering and would face action on the matter," he said, adding that the victim gave his online banking information including password and ATM card details to the caller.

Hoo said the victim lodged a report yesterday when he realised that two withdrawals amounting to RM20,000 were made from his account.

-- BERNAMA