Contractor loses RM4,300 in social media love scam

SIBU: A 43-year contractor is said to have lost RM4,300 to a Facebook love scam.

He got acquainted with a woman purportedly called Sandra Robinson via Facebook on Oct 10.

She told him she had about US$1.5 million which she took from the late Saddam Hussein's safety boxes.

She also promised to transfer part of the money into the man's account as a sign of love.

On Oct 14, after exchanging several messages, the woman told the man that she had already sent the package of RM12,000 to him, and the package would arrive the next day.

She was said to have told him that an agent would contact him to collect the package.

On Oct 15, the man received a phone call from 0169445687, telling him to remit RM4,300 as the delivery fee for the package.

The man transferred the money at an ATM machine at Public Bank into the an account (4634004332) under the name Choong Lee Foon.

Few minutes later, the agent contacted him and asked him to bank in another RM12,000 as the earlier RM4,300 was not enough to cover the delivery fee.

He realized he had been cheated. He lodged a police report.

Separately, a 32-year-old woman officer is also said to have lost RM1,800 through a Wechat scam.

On Oct 17, she received a text message from the Wechat account of her cousin, asking her to help bank in RM1,800 which she complied.

On the same day, she received a call from her cousin who told her that his Wechat account had been hacked and that he had never told her to bank in the money.

District police chief ACP Stanley Jonathan Rinngit said both cases would be investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property.