KANOWIT, March 17: A housewife lost more than RM126,000 after being deceived by a ‘love scam’ syndicate through social media.
The 45-year-old victim claimed that she met the scammer via Facebook in early February.
Kanowit district police chief, Deputy Superintendent (DSP) Tega Bilong said today that the victim met a man who introduced himself as James Chong, supposedly from the United States.
“The victim in her report claimed said that the suspect promised her a gift from abroad in the form of jewelry and US dollar cash that would be sent by post,” he said.
A few days later the complainant was contacted by a suspect who introduced himself from the cargo side on the grounds that he needed to make a ‘clearance payment tax’ because the contents of the package contained jewelry and a lot of cash.
On the basis of trust, he said, the woman had made payments in 13 transactions from Jan 20 to 7 March 7 into a local bank account amounting to rm126,320.
“However, the victim felt she had been cheated when her call was blocked and made a police report at the Manowit police station on March 9,” said Tega.
The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating. — DayakDaily
