MIRI: Two housewives here lost a total of RM10,100 after being conned by individuals who befriended them on social media, according to the police.
Sarawak Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) chief Supt Mustafa Kamal Gani Abdullah said yesterday that in the first case, a housewife lost RM5,300 to a Facebook “friend” of three days after being promised goods worth RM80,000.
“The 41-year-old victim got acquainted with a man who introduced himself as Calvin Lee from England last Sunday.
“On the same day, she received a WhatsApp message saying a parcel of goods was being sent to her and on Monday she was contacted by a woman named Norita using the same phone number,” he said yesterday.
Mustafa Kamal said the victim was told by the woman that the goods from England were worth RM80,000 and she asked the victim to pay RM5,300 as the agent’s fee.
“The victim transferred the RM5,300 to a bank account number given by the woman on WhatsApp on the same day,” he said.
According to him, the victim once again received a WhatsApp message from the same number requesting for payment of RM26,500 yesterday but she did not comply with the instruction and decided to lodge a police report instead.
He said the second case involved a 49-year-old woman who lost RM4,800 to an American acquaintance who called himself Ben O Lennon. – Bernama
“On Dec 2, the victim was contacted by the man via WhatsApp, saying that he wanted to send a gift to her but the parcel’s weight exceeded the minimum limit,” he said.
Mustafa Kamal said the victim was asked to make a payment of RM4,800 to a delivery company and she made the payment on Dec 14 to a given bank account number.
“The victim then received a call from a person called Soiyima Kiran asking her to pay another RM10,800 into the same account for the postal insurance, but she did not make the payment,” he said. – Bernama
