SIBU: A 60-year-old woman lost RM47,500 in a love scam.
Sibu district police chief ACP Stanley Jonathan Ringgit said that the victim is an administrative staff who ‘fell in love’ with a man named ‘Richie Weng’ on Facebook in July.
After four months of courtship, the man told the victim through WhatsApp that he would come to Malaysia to marry her.
“The suspect also informed the victim that he had sent gifts in the form of cash in US dollars, watches, gold chains and mobile phones as proof of his love.
“On Oct 3, the suspect told the victim that the package containing the gifts had been detained by the Customs Department,” he said in a statement today.
He added that the suspect told the victim to make payment in order to release the package.
“Excited about receiving the gifts, the victim did as she was told and transferred money amounting RM47,000 in two transactions to two bank accounts.
“She was told that of that amount, the RM12,000 is for the ‘Anti-Terrorist Release Certificate’ and RM35,000 for an ‘Insurance Certificate’,” he added.
Stanley said the victim was also asked to make another payment but she ran out of money.
After that, the victim felt cheated and came forward to lodge a police report on Wednesday.
“The case will be investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating,” he said.
