SERIAN: A teacher found herself RM270,000 poorer after falling victim to a fraudulent stock investment scheme.
In early September, the victim in her mid-40s, encountered a stock investment advertisement on Facebook. Intrigued, she reached out to a woman named Chryseis (suspect) on the opportunity.
She was later added to a WhatsApp group named A80, where she was instructed to attend online classes on Mondays, Thursdays, or Sundays through a designated website to learn the intricacies of the investment.
Sarawak Police Commissioner Datuk Mancha Ata in a statement, said that as part of the registration process, the victim was instructed to download the TFSE VIP application via a provided link and she submitted a photo of her identification card within the app.
The suspect enticed the victim with a promise of a 10 per cent profit return for each investment.
“From mid-November until end of November, the victim transferred a total of RM270,000 into two different bank accounts via nine transactions.
“After each transaction, the victim engaged in purchasing and selling shares using the FTSE application and monitored the fluctuations in the same app.
“It was only until Nov 29 that the scheme unravelled when the victim discovered that the funds in her FTSE account were inaccessible for transfer to her savings account,” he said.
Upon verification with Shroders Singapore, she found that the company does not provide any stock trading services.
The victim promptly reported the incident to the police yesterday (Dec 4) and the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating and dishonestly inducing the delivery of property.
In light of this, Mancha urged the public to exercise caution and invest only through legitimate and registered platforms sanctioned by Bank Negara Malaysia and the Malaysian Securities Commission.
He also advised the public to seek financial advice only from registered agents when considering investments.
