Consultant cheated of RM1.6mil in investment scam

IPOH: A consultant from Taman Perak here lost about RM1.6mil after falling victim to a non-existent investment scheme scam.

Perak police chief Comm Datuk Seri Mohd Yusri Hassan Basri said the 37-year-old man had only found out that he had been cheated recently after trying to withdraw some profits from the investment.

“A police report was lodged on Thursday (Jan 18).

“The victim said he had been cheated into investing in a cryptocurrency scheme on the Unobitex mobile app,” he said in a statement on Friday (Jan 19).

Comm Mohd Yusri said the victim was introduced by a friend on Facebook to invest in cryptocurrency on the mobile app in September last year.

“The victim had made 44 transactions into various bank accounts, totalling to RM1,651,585,” he said.

“When he tried to withdraw the profit from the investment, he was asked by the suspect to pay some taxes to the Saudi Arabian government.

“It was then that the consultant became aware that he had been cheated,” he added.

Comm Mohd Yusri said the people are reminded to be careful about investment offers on social media platforms, especially ones using financial or investment mobile apps that are not approved by Bank Negara Malaysia or the Securities Commission.

He said the people can contact the National Scam Response Centre number at 997 if they are victims of a non-existent investment scheme or had just made transactions to a mule account.

“For queries involving such crimes, the people can contact the police’s commercial crime investigation department infoline at 013-211 1222 via WhatsApp between 8am and 10pm.

“For the latest trend in cheating, visit www.facebook.com/jsjkpdrm or www.facebook.com/cybercrimealertrmp,” he said, adding that accounts or telephone numbers suspected of being used in scams can be checked at https://semakmule.rmp.gov.my.