KUCHING: A woman’s hopes of supplementing her income through a parttime job were dashed when she ended up losing more than RM50,000 instead to an online job scam.
Sarawak Police Commissioner Datuk Mohd Azman Ahmad Sapri said the mid-20s woman, who works as a clerk at a medical supply company here, claimed that on June 26 she came across a Facebook advertisement under a profile ‘Alena Loh’ offering a parttime job which would pay her to watch a movie and receive a commission.
“Taken in by the enticing offer, she promptly contacted the suspect and left her telephone number with ‘Alena Loh’. The suspect sent text messages via WhatsApp and instructed her to commence her tasks,” he said in a statement yesterday (July 9).
The victim made 13 separate deposits totalling RM54,391.78 to six different local bank accounts as instructed on June 26.
“However, up until the time of reporting, the victim did not receive any of the promised commissions and realised she had been deceived,” Mohd Azman said.
The police chief also highlighted a job scam case in Miri where a woman in her late 30s who works at an O & G company as an executive, came across a WhatsApp advertisement from one ‘Farhana Arwaa Abaasa’ who works as a human resource manager for Aevus Studio Sdn Bhd company.
“The suspect instructed the victim to click ‘like’ and ‘subscribe’ which would allow the woman to receive a commission of RM20 for every completed task,” Mohd Azman said.
He said the victim was instructed to speak to ‘Penny Penny O’Case’ for further transaction arrangements.
“The victim was requited to make a transaction to a bank account given by ‘Penny Penny O’Case’ who disguised as a receptionist of the company,” he said.
In between July 3 and July 7, the victim made 10 separate deposits totalling RM106,737 to eight different local bank accounts.
Soon after making the transfer, the victim checked her bank account balance and found it empty. It was then that she realised she was cheated.
