SIBU: Love and deception collided in a heart-wrenching scam, causing a clerk to lose a whopping RM1.06 million to the wiles of a self-proclaimed engineer from London.
The unfortunate ordeal began in mid-2022 when the victim in her 50s became acquainted with the enigmatic ‘Thomas Yeng Leong’ on Facebook.
Sarawak Deputy Police Commissioner Datuk Mancha Ata said love blossomed when both the victim and the suspect started an online relationship after communicating through WhatsApp.
Thomas, who claimed to be a sophisticated engineer in London, cleverly sought the victim’s assistance in funding chemical purchases essential to his purported engineering endeavours.
“As love clouded her judgment, the victim willingly transferred a staggering RM395,000 into five different bank accounts via 25 transactions, throughout August and September.
“In September, the suspect promised the victim a rendezvous in Malaysia, however, fate had other plans when the victim received a call from Customs officials that Thomas was arrested in Thailand for carrying an excessive amount of cash and a hefty fine had to be paid for his release.
“Woven into a tapestry of trust, the victim swallowed the bait and it led her to transfer RM255,000 into three different bank accounts from late September to early October to free Thomas,” he said.
Mancha added that the ordeal did not end there as the victim transferred approximately RM414,000 into 16 different bank accounts via 36 transactions this year from early May until end of July.
All these transfers were supposedly for various reasons, including purchasing work-related items, facilitating the suspect’s visit to Malaysia, covering emergency expenses and other alleged purposes.
The painful truth emerged when the victim realised that she had been scammed after Thomas relentlessly demanded more payments and their long-awaited face-to-face meeting never materialised.
“The victim then lodged a police report for further investigation yesterday (July 31)
“The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, which provides for up to 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine, upon conviction,” he said.
