JASIN: A female bank clerk lost RM585,700 after being promised a 51-fold profit on a mere RM300 investment.
The 52-year-old mother resorted to depleting her savings in Tabung Haji, a fixed bank deposit, Amanah Saham Nasional, and sold or pawned her jewelry in pursuit of the promised investment returns.
Jasin District Police chief, Deputy Superintendent Ahmad Jamil Radzi said the victim made a police report at the Jasin District Police Headquarters at 11am yesterday.
According to the victim's statement, she came into contact with a woman via the WhatsApp messaging application who introduced herself as an investment advisor affiliated with the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) on Oct 5.
The woman enticed the victim with the investment scheme, claiming it was available for a brief window of three to six hours. The victim, also the complainant in this case, was told that she could invest RM300 and expect to gain a profit of RM15,467.
The suspect assured the victim that there were no broker fees or hidden charges associated with the MIDA investment. Additionally, the scheme promised swift returns and low investment costs, making it highly attractive to the victim.
Overwhelmed by the seemingly incredible offer, the victim ultimately agreed to participate in the investment and initiated a transaction of RM300 into a Maybank account.
Subsequently, the victim made 64 more transactions into 31 different accounts, amounting to RM585,400, with various purposes related to the investment.
The victim's realization of the deception came when she was asked to pay an upfront fee of RM10,000 for telephone bills by a telecommunications company supposedly associated with the investment scheme. This prompted her to report the fraud to the police.
Ahmad Jamil revealed that the victim's husband was unaware of the situation, and she only confided in her sibling after depleting her savings.
The victim communicated with only three individuals within the investment group and had not received any returns.
Ahmad Jamil cautioned the public to remain vigilant and avoid placing trust in any unverified investment advertisements.
He urged the public to verify the legitimacy of investment opportunities through applications provided by the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (JSJK) of the Royal Malaysian Police, such as ccid.rmp.gov.my/semakmule, WhatsApp application ccid infoline 0132111222, the official JSJK Facebook page, or the National Scam Response Center at 997.