KOTA BARU: A trader here was conned out of over RM50,000 by an online loan scam syndicate operating via Facebook, recently.
Kelantan Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Superintendent Ahmad Azizul Mohamed said police received a report from the woman, in her 30s, on Nov 30.
In the report, he said the woman claimed that the incident occurred in October, soon after she saw an online loan advertisement on social media.
"She then decided to apply for the loan and contacted a man who claimed to be a representative from the loan company.
"She told the suspect that she wanted to borrow RM50,000 from the company and was told that she would get the money as long as she agreed to repay the loan at a rate of RM500 a month for 10 years.
"When she agreed, she was asked to click on links provided by the suspect, and was then told to send her picture, bank statement and RM300 as down payment to process the loan," Azizul said.
He said the victim transferred the payment to an account belonging to the suspect on Oct 27, but on the same day, he demanded another RM1,010 to be sent to another account of a different person.
Since then, Azizul said the victim was asked to make several payments to enable the loan to be approved.
"Until Nov 30, the victim made 40 transactions to 15 bank accounts owned by different holders. The transactions amounted to RM43,900.
"She only realised she was cheated after she wanted to borrow RM8,000 from her relative to pay the suspect again," he added.
Azizul advised the public not to easily fall for such online loan scams, and urged them to check with the relevant authorities before making any payments.