Two housewives fall victim to parcel scams syndicate
MIRI: Two housewives claim the loss of RM4,800 and RM5,300 respectively after falling victim to a parcel scams syndicate between Dec 14 and 17.
Head of Sarawak Commercial Crime Investigation Department Supt Mustafa Kamal Ghani Abdullah said both victims were duped using the same modus operandi.
In the first case, a woman, 49, was said to have befriended a man who claimed to be from the USA on Facebook.
“After being friends for sometime, the man told his ‘girlfriend’ that he is going to send her a parcel. The weight, however, exceeded the limit and therefore she had to pay RM4,800 to a delivery company called Global Maritime Delivery Company to have the parcel sent to her,” Mustafa said.
She did not suspect anything, and deposited RM4,800 to an account given to her, on Dec 14.
Later, she received another call, this time from a woman, asking her to deposit into the same account RM10,800 for insurance purposes, but she did not do so.
In the second case, a woman, 41, befriended a man on Facebook who claimed to be from England on Dec 16.
She then received a WhatsApps message informing her that a parcel has been sent to her.
“She received another WhatsApps message from a woman using the same telephone number on Dec 17, telling her that the parcel was worth RM80,000.
“She was asked to pay RM5,300 to an agent. She immediately transferred the amount on the same day,” Mustafa said.
The next day, she received another WhatsApps message asking her to pay another RM26,500 but this time she did not do so.
Mustafa said the victims came to realise they had been scammed when the parcels did not arrive after the first payment was made, and after being asked to make the second payment.