Malaysians have long been thoroughly warned about the dangers of online investment schemes that promise large amounts of profit but are actually nothing but a facade.
Three retirees watched their life savings slip through their fingers after they all fell for the same investment scam, resulting in a combined loss of RM9.38 million.
3 M’sian retirees cheated of RM9.4mil in SILEGX scam
Speaking to the press about the matter, Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said the three victims, aged 57 to 71, had fallen prey to the SILEGX investment scam via advertisements on social media.
As a result, the trio lost a total of RM9.38 million, prompting them to lodge police reports at Petaling Jaya, Brickfields and Taman Melawati respectively.
“One of the victims, a former civil servant, claimed he came across an advertisement for the scheme on Facebook. After contacting the scheme operator, he was added into a WhatsApp group.
The victim made a total of 42 transactions to eight bank accounts that were registered to various companies, which amounted to more than RM5 million.
“In early March, the victim saw he had accumulated more than US$205.46 million (RM1 billion) in his account, but was told he can only withdraw the funds after paying a US$230,000 (RM1.02 million) processing fee.
“He then lodged a police report as he felt something was fishy,” explained Ramli.
46 investigation papers opened so far
Ramli said 46 investigation papers have been opened into SILEGX so far, involving RM41,593,871 in losses.
He added 15 retirees have lodged police reports, along with 12 businessmen, three teachers, two engineers, a bank officer, an accountant, a doctor and a housewife.
“Our investigations found that the scheme used 39 bank accounts to receive money from victims. Of that, 37 are registered to companies, while the remaining two are registered to businesses.
“We have frozen the bank accounts and are investigating to identify the people behind the scheme,” he said.
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