Parcel scam sees woman lose RM21,000 to Instagram friend

SIBU: A woman here has become the latest person to fall victim to a parcel scam, losing RM21,000 to a person she met on social media.

The victim, a 30-year- old medical assistant, befriended the man in June on Instagram and kept in touch with him via WhatsApp and telephone calls.

Recently, he told her that he had sent her a gift for her birthday and asked her to wait for its arrival.

Last Tuesday, she received a call from someone claiming to be from a company handling the parcel sent by her friend.

According to the caller, the parcel contained a shirt, a pair of shoes and cash, adding the woman needed to settle a fee in order to be able to claim the parcel.

The following day, the unsuspecting woman proceeded to remit a total of RM21,000 in four transactions to a bank account provided by the caller.

She only realised something was wrong when the same caller contacted her again asking for a further RM3,000 to be transferred, and proceeded to lodge a police report the next day.

In a separate case, a man was cheated out of RM5,000 after investing in a company he came to know of on Facebook.

The 38-year- old told police he was attracted by the high returns offered by the company, and invested RM5,000 by transferring the sum into the account of the person listed on July 28.

He said upon the payment, he was promised a return of RM10,000 on the condition that he pay a processing fee of RM3,000.

Realising he had been cheated, he decided to lodged a police report.

Police are probing both cheating cases.