KUALA TERENGGANU – A businessman claimed to have lost RM688,300 to a non-existent investment scam.
Terengganu police chief Datuk Mazli Mazlan said that the businessman, in his 50s, was interested in investing after seeing an advertisement on Facebook in October, last year.
“The victim had been given investment-related information through a link and the website, and the victim could make investment transactions and view Bursa Malaysia’s graph movement statistics,” he said in a statement today.
Mazli said the victim had made payments totalling RM688,300, through 19 transactions into 12 different accounts, with the promise of a profit of RM2 million when it reached the maturity date on January 24.
He said that, after the promised period, the businessman wanted to withdraw the profit, but was asked to make a withdrawal payment of 1% of the total profit.
“As the victim did not make the payment as requested, he was blocked from accessing the website again,” he said, adding that the businessman then lodged a police report on Wednesday.
Mazli advised the public to always stay vigilant to non-existent investment syndicates, and not to be easily influenced by investment schemes that promise lucrative profits.
He said that, based on statistics from the Terengganu commercial crime investigation department, a total of 136 reports were received from January 28 to yesterday, compared with 115 reports in the previous week, an increase of 21 reports.
He added that a total of 36 investigation papers had been opened, involving a total loss of RM1,095,762.15. – February 4, 2024