Photo for illustration purposes only. — Photo from Pixabay
KUCHING (May 19): A 40-year-old woman here has become the latest known victim of a cryptocurrency investment scam, which saw her losing RM1.4 million.
Sarawak police commissioner Datuk Mohd Azman Ahmad Sapri said the traditional medicine shop owner lodged a police report on the scam yesterday.
“The victim claimed that she was offered the investment opportunity from a friend whom she had met online.
“That person then sent her a link via WhatsApp where she was told to fill in her personal details,” he told a press conference at the Sarawak Police Contingent headquarters today.
Mohd Azman said the victim was drawn to join the ‘Crypto Exchange’ investment due to its promised high returns.
According to the victim, the investment returns were shown in a graph made available in an application.
The victim made a total of 34 deposits totalling to RM1.4 million into 25 different bank accounts between Feb 1 and May 5.
“The victim only received RM3,260 from the scammers on Feb 1. Since then, she did not receive any further returns and realised that she was scammed,” said Mohd Azman.
Between Jan 1 and April 30 this year, the Sarawak Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) has recorded 67 scam cases involving losses of RM5.9 million.
Within the same period last year, the Sarawak CCID recorded 66 scam cases involving losses of RM2.8 million.
“This is an increase of RM3.1 million in losses,” Mohd Azman said, adding police have arrested 18 suspects and opened 28 investigation papers.
He advised the public to be wary of investment opportunities which are “too good to be true” and to never share personal information on website links.
The public can check account numbers of suspected scammers at https://semakmule.rmp.gov.my or call the National Scam Response Centre on 997.
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