Teacher loses RM130,000 after investing in non-existent online investment scheme

KUANTAN — The lure of easy pickings and greed seems to have no boundaries as even learned teachers are dragged into ‘get reach quickly’ scams.

A female teacher was deceived by a non-existent investment and loan scheme on social media, resulting in a loss of over RM130,000.

Pahang Police Chief Datuk Seri Yahaya Othman said the 28-year-old victim was initially interested in joining an investment scheme that promised high returns on Facebook on July 26.

He said that the victim then downloaded the investment application through the provided link and started investing RM550 and immediately earning a profit of RM400.

“With the initial profits, the victim began to trust and invested up to RM109,817 by making 22 transactions to 11 different accounts provided by the suspect. The suspect then asked the victim to pay RM20,000 to redeem a profit of USD 22,000 from the investment,” he said in a statement today.

Following that, he stated that the victim had taken a loan of RM20,000 through Facebook, but was charged a processing fee of up to RM20,980, which was made through 10 transactions to five bank accounts from Sept 5 to 7.

The victims who used her own savings as well as loans from family and friends realized she had been deceived by both syndicates after not receiving the promised returns on the investments and loans, he said. 

Yahaya said the victim filed a police report at the Kuantan District Police Headquarters yesterday, and the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for fraud. — BERNAMA