Time and time again, we hear stories of people, both young and old, finding themselves being sweet-talked into a lucrative deal that would prove to be their financial ruin.
This was certainly a case for a 77-year-old woman, whose losses amounted to millions of Ringgit after a ‘friend’ of hers duped her into buying shares that were virtually worthless.
‘Friend’ tricks woman into buying RM15.1mil worth of fake shares
The sobering incident was shared by Acting Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Deputy Comm Datuk Rohaimi Md Isa, who provided further details in a statement.
He said the victim, a retired banker, was approached by a ‘friend’ (the first suspect) and persuaded to buy shares in a Malaysian company. She was also told to buy the shares through the first suspect, who would hold the shares in trust for her.
The victim was then introduced to another ‘friend’ (the second suspect), who purportedly acted as an agent for the purchase. In order to quell any doubts, the suspects showed the victim several documents, which led her to believe it was safe to buy the shares.
As a result, she carried out multiple transactions between 2020 and 2021 with deposits made to three people totalling RM15.1 million, reported The Star.
When 2021 rolled around, the victim asked for the shares bought by the first suspect to be transferred to her and asked for proof of purchase too.
However, both suspects began coming up with various excuses and kept dragging their feet on her requests.
This then led her to cast doubt on the shares’ authenticity and eventually realised the information in the documents was doctored and conjured by the suspects.
Rohaimi said a police report was made in Brickfields on Monday (Apr 14) and the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
Aside from Malaysians, even foreigners are falling prey to scammers as well:
