Lonely women lost RM83m to internet lovers this year
Published on: Monday, September 17, 2018
Kuala Lumpur: Lonely, middle-aged women who were fleeced by online love scam syndicates have lost a total of RM83.6 million this year, according to police.Bukit Aman Commercial CID (Cyber and Multimedia Investigation) Deputy Director, SAC Ahmad Nordin Ismail said the losses involving love scammers are on the rise."Last year, 1,652 cases with total losses of RM61.9 million were reported. This year, till Sept, 1,301 cases have been reported but the total losses rose to RM83.6 million," he told reporters at the Bukit Aman CCID headquarters.
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He said that their modus operandi was to first gain the trust of their victims, who were mostly women.They would then claim a gift or a parcel meant for the victim was stuck at the customs office or post office and a payment would be needed for its release.A bank account, provided by an account mule, would be given to the victim where they would deposit the money. The suspects would then lose contact with the victims once the money has been deposited.
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He said police recently initiated an operation which resulted in 25 suspects being detained at six separate locations in the Klang Valley on Sept 6.They comprised 15 men and five women from Nigeria, four men from Tanzania and one Thai woman. They had been running the scam since last year.
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The police also seized laptops, ATM cards and mobile phones from them.Ahmad Noordin said police seized a list with 1,500 names of victims and potential victims on just two of over 20 gadgets seized. He said some of the people on the list were in the process of being conned.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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