A woman from Ipoh was lured by a car dealer advertisement on Facebook and placed an order for a second-hand car, only to find herself trapped in a scam and no car.
According to China Press, she was allegedly threatened by the scammers and made 25 transactions amounting to RM132,860 in total, causing her to lose her entire life savings.
When she approached a friend to borrow more money after depleting her savings, the friend something was amiss and immediately informed the victim’s father, who then accompanied his daughter to the police station to lodge a report and unravelled the scam.
Cheated of RM132,860 in a car scam
In a statement issued by Perak police chief Datuk Seri Mohd Yusri Hassan Basri yesterday (June 7), he confirmed the incident and said the Commercial Crime Investigation Unit had received a report.
“According to the victim, she was attracted by a Facebook advertisement for a used car on June 1 and intended to purchase it.
“She then contacted the person supposedly in charge of the dealership via WhatsApp, who introduced himself as the seller. He also sent a photo of his IC to ‘prove’ that he was a Malaysian,” he said.
Mohd Yusri said the victim then paid for the car via online bank transfers into a bank account given by the suspect and was tricked into not backing out from the purchase under the guise that she would be held liable as the insurance was under her name.
When she realised that it was a scam, it was too late and she became RM132,860 poorer.
The case is now being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
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