JOHOR BARU: A nurse was not just scammed out of her life savings but was also constantly harassed for almost four months by “the authorities” after being accused of selling beauty products online without the Health Ministry’s approval.
The woman’s nightmare began in July when she got a call from a person impersonating a customer service officer from an online platform, claiming that she was involved in selling cosmetics online without the ministry’s approval.
Sources said that despite the woman denying having done so, the caller transferred the call to a “policeman” from Penang, who alleged that she was under investigation for money laundering and faced jail time if she did not cooperate with police.
“The suspects then asked the woman to transfer all her savings to accounts provided for safekeeping, which would then be returned after all her personal accounts were vetted by the authorities,” the sources said.
It is learnt that over a four-month period until end of last month, the nurse, in her 20s, carried out at least 13 transactions and transferred her savings totalling RM130,000 to at least six different accounts.
However, she realised she had been duped and lodged a report after she could no longer contact the “policeman” to enquire about her case.In an unrelated case, a 56-year-old businessman was cheated of more than RM370,000 in a bogus share deal he had come across on social media.
It is learnt that the man, who had befriended another man via social media, was promised huge returns if he joined an “international club” trading in Chinese stocks.
Sources said he had initially invested about RM5,000 and his investment immediately grew.
“Subsequently, he invested almost RM370,000 until the end of last month and his investment grew to almost RM2.5mil within a week,” the sources said.
However, the businessman realised he had been duped when he was unable to make a withdrawal of RM500,000 from the account, with the platform administrator then asking an additional RM80,000 to help “facilitate the withdrawal”.
A police officer said both cases are being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
