SIBU: A hostel supervisor, who fell in love with a Frenchman online, lost RM20,000 after she was deceived by the suspect’s sweet promises.
District police chief ACP Stanley Jonathan Ringgit said the 43-year-old victim knew the suspect named Ahmad Zulhilmi, who is supposedly from France, via Instagram.
Since May this year, they have been communicating with each other through WhatsApp where the suspect used a number from that country to further convince the victim.
“The victim later fell in love with the suspect and formed a virtual relationship.
“The suspect had also promised to marry the victim to win her heart before arranging the next plan to dupe the victim,” he said.
Soon after, the suspect asked the victim to deposit money into his account to buy a car. However, the brand of the car was not stated.
Stanley noted that for love’s sake, the victim transferred money into the suspect’s account at a bank in Jalan Kampung Datu around 12pm on Thursday.
“Based on the facts of the case, the victim had made five transactions amounting to RM20,000 to a CIMB Bank account registered in the suspect’s own name.
“At 7.52pm on the same night, the suspect informed the victim that the money transferred was not in his account as it had been blocked by the bank,” he said.
The victim began to suspect something wasn’t right and realised she had been deceived when the suspect asked her to transfer money back into the same account.
Stanley noted that the victim lodged a police report at the Sibu Central Police Station the next day (Friday).
The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
