A woman in her 30s from Kelantan was scammed of RM11,700 after she was tricked by a ‘virtual lover’ to pay his quarantine fees. The man allegedly from Eastern Europe had promised to come to Malaysia to meet the woman, only to successfully cheat her of her money.
According to Astro Awani, the incident happened in May when the woman, who is single and unemployed, befriended a man online.
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Kelantan Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Supt Ahmad Azizul Mohamed said that the man told the woman he wanted to know her better and decided to come to Malaysia.
“On July 22, the victim received a message from the suspect stating that he had arrived in Malaysia but was being detained at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport for quarantine purposes,” he said.
“The next day, the victim was contacted by a woman disguised as a government employee who asked the victim to settle the quarantine costs of her ‘virtual contact’.”
The woman then made several payments to an account using money from her Employees Provident Fund (EPF) account.
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Supt Ahmad Azizul added that the woman transferred RM5,200 to a local bank account belonging to a woman and another RM2,000 to the same account on 26 July. The suspect claimed that he had tested positive for Covid-19 and needed money for the hospital treatment deposit.
“Then, the victim again made another payment of RM4,500 the following day as the payment for the hospital treatment bill,” he said.
On 8 July, the victim lodged a police report after suspecting that she had been scammed as he still tried to ask for money for various other reasons.
Don’t trust people you’ve never met with your money!
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