Two Miri housewives lose RM10,100 in parcel scams

MIRI: Two housewives here lost a total of RM10,100 after being conned by individuals who befriended them on the social media, according to the police.

Sarawak Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) chief Supt Mustafa Kamal Gani Abdullah said yesterday that in the first case, a housewife lost RM5,300 to a Facebook friend of three days after being promised goods worth RM80,000.

“The 41-year-old victim got acquainted with a man who introduced himself as Calvin Lee from England last Sunday.

“On the same day, the victim received a WhatsApp message saying a parcel of goods was being sent to her and on Monday she was contacted by a woman named Norita using the same phone number,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Mustafa said the victim was told by the woman that the goods sent from England were worth RM80,000 and she asked the victim to pay RM5,300 as the agent fee.

“The victim transferred the RM5,300 to a bank account number given by the woman through WhatsApp on the same day,” he said.

According to him, the victim once again received a WhatsApp message from the same number requesting for payment of RM26,500 on Tuesday but she did not comply with the instruction and decided to lodge a police report instead.

He said the second case involved a 49-year-old woman who lost RM4,800 to an American acquaintance called Ben O Lennon.