SIBU: A local housewife here claimed she was cheated of RM2,400 in an online scam involving the purchase of Shandy drinks.
The 46-year-old victim, who only wanted to be known as Lau, said that before the incident, she saw an advertisement in Facebook about the sale of the drink.
“I contacted the advertiser via text message to make a deal. He then gave me his phone number to facilitate communication,” she said at a press conference at the Parti Aspirasi Rakyat Sarawak (Aspirasi) Service Centre, here on Saturday (Jan 22).
According to the victim, she was told that their price was cheaper between RM36 and RM39 per box while in the supermarket such a drink usually costs RM46 per box.
“The man (suspect) told me that the drink would arrive on Jan 24. Before I made any payment, I asked for his account number and after doing so he promised to send the drinks to me,” she added.
The victim then went to the bank at 1.30pm and transferred RM700 to the account number provided by the suspect.
The suspect then asked if any of her family members also wanted to buy the drink.
As her friend was interested, the victim made an online transfer of RM1,700 at 2.30pm to another account number provided by the suspect.
“Since I didn’t suspect anything, I helped my friend to pay first. Then, when asked again for the tracking number, the man gave an excuse saying his employee forgot to take a picture of the number because they had a lot of customers to serve.
“He told me not to worry and I believed him because the ordered drinks were to arrive at my place on Jan 24,” she said.
When the victim tried to call the suspect at 9.30pm on Thursday (Jan 20), the victim was shocked to find that the suspect had blocked her number.
“I lodged a police report the next day (Friday) asking them to investigate. I also do not want anyone else to be a victim of a similar scam,” she added.
Aspirasi deputy chairman Simon Tiong advised the public to be more careful when buying goods online.
“Make sure you know the seller. If they’re really unfamiliar, do not deal with them,” he advised.
Tiong said he would write a letter to the police tomorrow to get updated about the results of their investigation.
He also urged the public to lodge a police report if they feel they have been victims of fraud.
