JB medical practitioner loses over RM8mil to investment scam

JOHOR BARU: A medical practitioner lost more than RM8mil of her savings after being scammed to invest in a bogus online stock investment scheme.

Johor Baru South OCPD Asst Comm Raub Selamat said the victim, a 53-year-old female, lodged a police report on Tuesday (July 29) claiming she had been scammed of her savings amounting to RM8.7mil.

“According to the victim, in April this year, she came across an investment advertisement on social media that promised high returns. She became interested and contacted the suspect to find out more about it.

“The victim was offered profits of up to 520% from the total amount of investments she made,” he said in a statement here on Wednesday (July 30).

ACP Raub added that believing the profits that she would get, from May until this month, she made payments of RM8.7mil to several bank accounts as instructed by the suspect.

He said from the total amount of investments she had made, the victim only received about RM6,033 in profit.

“When the victim wants to withdraw her funds and profits, the suspect forced her to pay another RM500,000 as a deposit and even threatened that her account would be frozen.

“This made the victim realise that she had been cheated before lodging a police report,” he said adding that the case was being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code.

ACP Raub urged the public to be vigilant against online investment scams that promise unrealistic returns within a short period of time.

“Anybody can be a victim of scammers no matter their status or career. They should always be careful when come across investment opportunities especially on social media,” he added.

He said the public should follow the Royal Malaysia Police’s commercial crime investigation unit social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for updates on the latest scam tactics.