KUALA TERENGGANU: A 67-year-old businessman has lost more than RM5.2 million after falling victim to a fraudulent, non-existent investment scheme.
The man came across an advertisement on a Facebook page on Sept 1, promoting an investment opportunity involving the buying and selling of shares in China.
Terengganu police chief Datuk Mohd Khairi Khairudin said that the victim was told that by investing his capital, he would earn substantial profits within a short period.
He said the victim was then instructed to download an application called MMct-Pro, which was sent to him via email.
"After registering on the app, the victim was asked to make an initial payment of RM30,000 to a local bank account provided by the scammer to fund the investment.
"Through the app, the victim was shown a growing profit from his initial transaction, which encouraged him to make additional payments of RM50,000 and RM20,000, hoping for even higher returns," he said in a statement today.
Mohd Khairi said the victim's first attempt to withdraw money was successful, as he received RM89,800, which further convinced him of the investment's legitimacy.
However, he said that the victim later discovered that the money came from an account belonging to an unknown company.
"The victim continued to make a series of transactions, transferring a total of RM240,000 into several local bank accounts provided by the scammer for the purchase of shares," he said.
Mohd Khairi said the victim was told he would earn profits from these share purchases, but to withdraw the profits, he was informed that he needed to pay a RM1 million profit-sharing fee.
He said that after making the payment, the victim was then told that the withdrawal could not proceed unless he paid a tax fee. This prompted him to make another payment of RM1,698,832.10 at a local bank counter.
"The situation worsened when the company requested a RM520,000 deposit for an investigation by the Securities Commission. The victim, following the instructions, made the payment as requested."
Mohd Khairi said over the course of the fraudulent dealings, the victim made 13 transactions, depositing money into seven different local bank accounts, ultimately suffering a total loss of RM5,221,832.10.
It was only when the victim was unable to withdraw his profits and was repeatedly asked to deposit more money that he began to suspect he had been scammed.
He then reported the incident to the Kuala Terengganu District Police Headquarters for further investigation.
Following the report, the Terengganu Commercial Crime Investigation Department launched an investigation under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.