Love Scam: Female storekeeper loses over half a million ringgit

Taiping district police chief ACP Osman Mamat said the 68-year-old victim got to know the man who claimed that he was a doctor last year.

"The victim was deceived after getting to know a Facebook user using the name Ding Nai Wei who claimed that he was a doctor working in Iraq," he said in a statement yesterday.

Osman said the suspect had begged the victim to transfer a sum of money which he claimed would be paid to the United Nations so that he could leave Iraq and promised to give RM5 million to the victim when he arrived in Malaysia.

The suspect had ensnared the victim causing her to make 69 ATM transactions at the Maybank Taiping branch from Oct 4, 2021, to May 21 this year, he said.

"The victim had never met with the 'doctor' throughout their relationship and only communicated via the WhatsApp application at +1(786)6526776 and +1(984)3683962," he said.

Osman said the victim lodged a police report at the district police headquarters here yesterday when she realised she had been duped, adding that the case was being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code.