'Korean' Conman Scams M'sian Woman Of RM3.9 Million That She Inherited From Late Husband
The man reportedly vowed to take care of her for the rest of her life and influenced her into investing in his oil rig project, saying it would give her profitable returns.
By Sabrina Zainal — 22 Mar 2022, 01:41 PM
An elderly woman in Penang lost RM3.9 million that she inherited from her late husband when she fell victim to a love scam
The scheme started in December 2021, when the 63-year-old got to know a 'South Korean' man through Instagram who told her he worked in a foreign oil rig.
The pair eventually moved to WhatsApp to communicate via text and voice call, according to New Straits Times.
The man reportedly vowed to take care of her for the rest of her life and influenced her into investing in his oil rig project, saying it would give her profitable returns.
"To convince her, the man frequently sent her photos and videos of him purportedly driving to work or while at work in an oil rig," said Penang police chief Shuhaily Zain at a press conference yesterday, 21 March.
The man asked her to bank in the money to him in stages, so she made a total of 184 transactions from last December until March 2022
The senior citizen transferred between RM9,000 and RM50,000 in each transaction to 19 local bank accounts, reported Bernama.
"I am sure the suspect realised the bank's threshold and did not want to raise any alarm, hence he asked for small amounts," said Shuhaily.
One day, the woman was surfing the Internet and found that a search of the man's pictures came back with similar pictures, but with other people's faces on them.
Suspecting that the photos he sent her had been edited and that she may have been cheated, she gathered her courage to make a police report on 17 March.
The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code.
A photo that the suspect sent to the woman to convince her that he worked in an oil rig (left) and another showing the same photo but with another person's face (right).
Image via Bernama via Free Malaysia TodayPolice are still tracking down the suspect and believe that the modus operandi is often used by Nigerian scammers to con women on social media
Shuhaily added that the victim had given the conman all the money left to her by her husband — which were savings during his career as a businessman — amounting to RM3.9 million.
He advised the public to be careful while using social media and not to transfer money to people they had just met.
