A 61-year-old woman in Miri has lost RM371,983.67 of her savings after falling victim to a non-existent share investment scam.
Miri district police chief ACP Mohd Farhan Lee Abdullah said the victim lodged a police report after realising she had been deceived in the online scheme.
He said the woman was initially drawn to an investment advertisement on Facebook before clicking a link that led her to communicate with an individual posing as an investment agent via two phone numbers.
The victim was reportedly promised high returns within a short period, which convinced her to transfer money through 15 transactions into four different bank accounts, totalling RM400,883.67.
However, she only managed to withdraw RM28,900, which was falsely presented as profits, before the scheme stopped yielding returns.
Mohd Farhan said the suspect repeatedly gave excuses whenever the victim attempted to cash out further earnings.
As a result, the woman suffered a total loss of RM371,983.67, and the case is now being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code.
He reminded the public to be cautious of investment offers promising unusually high and quick returns, urging verification through official channels such as Bank Negara Malaysia’s Financial Consumer Alert List and the Securities Commission Malaysia’s Investor Alert List.
