After falling victim to a scam, a 31-year-old woman in Iskandar Puteri lost over half a million ringgit of her life savings. The scammer had impersonated her younger brother in order to deceive her. Iskandar Puteri OCPD Asst Comm Rahmat Ariffin stated that the police were informed of the incident at 4.20pm on Friday (Jan 19) after the victim discovered that she had been cheated.
The victim had received a text message via WhatsApp from an unidentified individual who claimed to be her brother. The message requested her to transfer RM570,174 for business purposes. Following the request, the victim made the transfer to the account provided by the scammer. Subsequently, she called her brother to notify him of the transfer, only to find out that her real brother, aged 29, had not made such a request.
According to ACP Rahmat, the victim, who was a company manager, transferred the money to an unknown account after receiving the text from an unidentified number. The Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) has initiated an investigation under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
Rahmat also urged the public to be cautious and to verify the identity of individuals when communicating with them, particularly when receiving calls or messages from unfamiliar numbers.
