KUCHING: A woman lost RM59,000 when she was duped into applying for a loan via a non-existent scheme advertised on the internet.
State Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) chief Supt Mustafa Kamal Gabi Abdullah said the 42-year-old manager came across an advertisement on Feb 28.
She initially wanted to take a loan of RM80,000 and contacted the contact number stated in the advertisement.
She then paid RM59,000 as processing fees through seven transactions to five bank accounts from Mar 5 to Mar 18.
He added after carrying out the seventh transaction, the victim felt cheated after not receiving the loan and later lodged a police report on Friday.
Meanwhile, a 27-year-old female promoter for a shopping mall was fooled out of RM7,100 after she was cheated with a similar modus operandi.
According to Mustafa, on Mar 17, the victim received a text message via social media offering a personal loan worth RM10,000 with a monthly instalment of RM158 for a period of seven years, provided that the victim pays a processing fee of RM600.
“The victim was then requested to transfer her savings to four different accounts provided by the suspect from Mar 20 to Mar 22,” he said in a statement yesterday.
He added that the victim didn’t receive loan after completing the transactions and when the suspect failed to be contacted, she lodged a police report on Friday.
“Police have constantly advised the public to not be easily swayed or lured by loans offered online and through social media or telephone application (WhatsApp, WeChat and etc) and only acquire their loans from licensed financial institutions (banks),” he said.
