BINTULU: A housewife was duped of RM183,000 in an online part-time job scam recently.
The unfortunate ordeal began on July 18 when the victim in her mid-40s was added into a WhatsApp group called ‘Equity Builders B13’ by an unknown woman by the name of Sarah.
Sarawak Deputy Police Commissioner Datuk Mancha Ata said the woman then offered the victim a part-time job through a simple yet suspicious online task.
“The victim only had to like, follow the TikTok account provided by the suspect and take a screenshot as proof before sending it to the suspect.
“After doing so, the victim was contacted by the suspect personally via Telegram and the suspect gave her a link to buy an ‘online task package’.
“Intrigued with the easy task, the victim then transferred RM183,000 into five different bank accounts via 16 transactions,” he said.
Despite the substantial amount that was channelled to the bank accounts, the victim was left with nothing more than a mere RM300 in investment refund.
Mancha said the victim only realised that she had been cheated when she no longer received any commission return as promised by the suspect.
Following that, the victim came forward to lodge a police report for further investigation under Section 420 of the Penal Code.
He advised the public not to be easily attracted and deceived by job offers that are too good to be true on social media.
They should not entertain unknown phone calls and to immediately notify their partners, friends, or family members should they receive such phone calls, as well as to check with the police, banks, or related agencies for confirmation.
