Woman loses RM26,200 in online jewellery scam

MELAKA: A 34-year-old woman in Alor Gajah has reported to police that she lost RM26,200 in an online jewellery scam.

She claimed to have been enticed by an "attractive" offer of gold jewellery at the price of RM185 per gram, much lower than the market rate of well over RM200, that she received via a WhatsApp message, said Melaka Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Supt E. Sundra Rajan.

After scanning through the jewellery items on offer, she decided to buy five gold bracelets and a gold ring for RM26,200 which she deposited online into the scammer's account in staggered payments, he said in a statement today.

The bracelets, dubbed Pulut Dakap, Kait Lipan, Lipan Double, Puteri Padu and King Coco, as well as the ring never showed up, he said, adding that the woman was unable to contact the scammer over the WhatsApp application after that.

"The police have not been able to identify the gender of the scammer as he or she only communicated with the victim via WhatsApp text messages," he said.

Sundra Rajan said the woman lodged a report at the Tanjung Minyak Police Station here yesterday.

He said the police had received reports of one case of jewellery scam in 2019 involving RM3,000, six cases in 2020 involving RM25,261 and four cases involving RM31,098 so far this year.

He advised the people against falling for the online sale of jewellery and said they should check doubtful phone and account numbers at the website http://ccid.rmp.gov.my/semakmule.

-- BERNAMA