BETONG: A housewife lost RM116,000 to a scammer in a gold purchase scam.
The unfortunate incident began in mid-May when the victim, in her early 30s, decided to take out a dropship (provide goods by direct delivery to customer) advertisement on Facebook.
Little did she know that this seemingly innocent move would lead to her falling victim to a deceitful plot.
Sarawak Police Commissioner Datuk Mohd Azman Ahmad Sapri said on June 27, the unsuspecting victim received a WhatsApp message from a woman (suspect) who had expressed interest in becoming a drop-shipper.
Trusting her words, the victim decided to collaborate with the suspect who will find customers wanting to sell gold or had jewellery pawned at various pawn shops.
“She then used her friend’s financial assistance to transfer RM116,000 into the suspect’s account with the intention of ransoming gold supposedly obtained from pawn shops and purchasing gold from willing customers.
“The transfers were made in 20 transactions between July 1 and 8, all in the name of acquiring gold for the victim,” he said.
Later on July 11, the victim received a parcel containing 347.78g of gold jewellery from the suspect via an express bus postage from Miri to Kuching.
Hopeful and excited, the victim took the jewellery to her friend’s gold shop in Kuching for authenticity inspection and there, the devastating truth was revealed; the jewellery was nothing more than cleverly crafted fakes.
Mohd Azman said the victim, feeling betrayed and cheated, confronted the suspect and demanded her hard-earned money back.
However, the response she received was far from satisfactory as the scammer refused to give back the money and claimed that it had already been used for other matters.
The housewife mustered the courage and came forward to lodge a police report.
