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KEPALA BATAS: A housewife lost RM177,500 after being deceived by a man claiming to be from Poland, who is believed to be part of the ‘African Scam’ fraud syndicate.

Seberang Perai Utara District Police chief (SPU) ACP Noorzainy Mohd Noor said the 40-year-old woman claimed she got to know the man through the social networking site Facebook last month, before the suspect informed her that he had sent her gifts and cash through a delivery service company in Kuala Lumpur.

“She was then contacted by a representative of the delivery company who asked the woman to pay taxes, insurance and other service charges to claim the goods sent by the man,” he told reporters Friday.

He said the victim claimed to have made a total of 17 money transfer transactions to five local bank accounts within two days, namely Dec 7 and 8, involving a total amount of RM177,500, before being contacted to make more payments.

He said the victim who became suspicious at that point, checked with the delivery company concerned before lodging a police report on the incident Thursday.

“All the money used by the woman is from her savings while working as an insurance agent, and the victim had also borrowed money from her mother and sister. The police are still conducting further investigations and the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for fraud,” he said.