ENGINEER DUPED TWICE BY INVESTMENT SCAMS, LOSES OVER RM571K

JOHOR BAHRU, April 10 (Bernama) -- An engineer claimed he was duped of RM571,100 after falling victim twice to fraudulent stock investment syndicate via WhatsApp.

Seri Alam Deputy Police Chief Supt Victor Genason said on Nov 30 last year, the 44-year-old man received a message from a representative of the investment group Nuveen Financial Community, which was offering educational services related to investments.

He said the victim was promised high returns in a short period and carried out 23 transactions to nine different accounts, totalling RM469,100, between Jan 22 and April 3.

"The victim was asked to make additional payments to withdraw the investment profits but was unsuccessful," he said in a statement today.

Victor said that on Dec 10 last year, the victim received another message via the same app from a representative of 'PJT Partner Shock Academy,' which also offered investment education promising high returns in a short period.

He said the victim, believing the offer, made nine transactions to four different accounts totalling RM125,000 between Jan 9 and March 28 this year.

However, he said, the victim did not receive the promised profits and was instead required to make more payments to obtain the supposed returns.

"The victim realised he had been scammed after failing to retrieve his investment and lodged a report at the Seri Alam District Police Headquarters last Tuesday (April 8)," he said.

He added that the victim had transferred RM469,100 and only received RM23,000 in return from the first case, while the second case involved a total payment of RM125,000. The total loss suffered by the victim amounts to RM571,100.

Preliminary investigations through the Semak Mule CCID platform revealed that seven of the 13 accounts involved have 44 police reports linked to investment fraud cases.

-- BERNAMA