KUANTAN: A trader, under the impression that she could earn money quickly by accepting a part-time job requiring her to review hotels on social media, was duped into making RM96,000 in multiple investments into the fraudulent scheme.
She was unable to recover any of the funds.
Pahang police chief Datuk Seri Yahaya Othman said the 47-year-old victim from Rompin spotted a part-time job advertisement on Facebook last month and clicked on the given WhatsApp link to get further information.
"She communicated with an unidentified individual who told the trader that her task was to only review hotels and boost their ratings through the Bookingterra application. Once she successfully completes a task, she will receive daily payments.
"However, she was told to pay a deposit to be part of the job scheme and the victim made 20 transactions amounting RM96,504 into 12 different bank accounts before realising that she had been cheated after failing to receive any payments for the job," he said.
Meanwhile, Yahaya said in a separate incident here, a 41-year-old technician became RM85,000 poorer after joining a non-existent investment scheme which lured him with high profits.
He said the victim joined the scheme in August through Instagram before he was added into a WhatsApp group where the group administrator guided him on how to trade the shares.
"The victim was instructed to follow the group administrator's instruction and will receive returns in less than two days after each investment.
"The victim joined a platform to trade the shares and made nine transactions totalling RM85,000 into an account provided in the WhatsApp group between Oct 31 and Nov 20 before realising he had been cheated," he said.
Yahaya said both cases were being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
He advised individuals to invest in legal platforms and those registered with Bank Negara Malaysia and the Securities Commission, and not easily fall for schemes offered through social media.
