Time and time again, we have been warned by the authorities to be on guard against scams purporting to be legitimate investment schemes, but there are some who still fall for the same modus operandi.
A retired engineer had to learn his lesson the hard way after he was conned of his hard-earned savings in the blink of an eye, resulting in a loss of nearly RM10 million.
Retired M’sian engineer loses RM9.5mil to crypto scam
According to Johor state police chief Datuk M. Kumar, he said the 63-year-old victim was drawn to an advertisement posted on social media which promoted high returns on Bitcoin investments back in July.
When he clicked on the link provided, he was led to a WhatsApp group and subsequently contacted by two individuals who explained the investment process and promised a return of up to 50 times of the invested amount.
The victim was also instructed to register an account on an investment platform to get started and made 29 payment transactions to 11 different bank accounts between Oct and Dec.
“Upon reviewing the app, he saw a purported profit of RM88 million and wanted to withdraw the money, but he was told to pay RM800,000 in order to get the investment,” he told NST.
When he refused to pay the amount, the victim felt something was amiss when the two individuals who had first contacted him disappeared without a trace.
However, it proved to be a little too late as he found himself losing a total of RM9,474,310.
Kumar urged the public to do their due diligence on investment offers with relevant agencies such as the police, Bank Negara Malaysia, and the Securities Commission before making any transactions.
“We encourage them to use the “Semak Mule” service to check the status of bank accounts and phone numbers provided by the investment agents before making any payments.
“Staying informed about commercial crime trends is crucial to prevent falling victim to scams.”
A man who found himself sent to Cambodia after he fell for a job scam was sent home for a very strange reason:
