Retiree loses RM800,000 to cryptocurrency investment scam

KUCHING: A woman in her 70s was made RM800,000 poorer after she was scammed by an online cryptocurrency investment platform.

Sarawak Police Commissioner Dato Mancha Ata said the woman, who is a retiree of a financial institution here, came across the platform named ‘ACCERX’ via Facebook in September last year.

“The victim, who was interested in trading in cryptocurrency, proceeded to contact the platform which is based in Hong Kong.

“She was then added to a WhatsApp group called ‘X-4 Beacon of the Stock Market’ where she was given guidance and tutorial on how to invest on the platform.

“She was also told that she would get a return of 20 to 30 times the amount of her investment to invest in the different types of cryptocurrency,” he said in a statement yesterday.

He said the suspect also told the woman that the value of cryptocurrency will appreciate once the cryptocurrency market floats, and she was given a username and password to track her investment at their website.

“For the following months, the victim made several investments on the platform and was told to pay several miscellaneous fees which includes verification fees and handling fees.

“The woman then made a total of four transfers amounting around RM800,000 via online banking, cash deposits and bank counters. Each transfer was made to two unknown company bank accounts that were provided by the platform,” he said.

According to Mancha, the victim only realised she had been cheated when she failed to withdraw her investment which is said to have reached US$5 million.

Instead, he said the suspect asked the victim to pay a ‘tax’ of RM1.2 million if she wanted to withdraw the money.

Police are investigating the case under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.