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Seberang Prai Utara district police chief Noorzainy Mohd Noor said the 36-year-old victim claimed she purchased 610 boxes of three-layered face masks through an advertisement on Facebook.
“The price offered in the advertisement was low and the victim had intended to use the face masks for herself as well as sell them to third parties,” he said today.
Noorzainy said the woman then made several payments to a bank account number provided by the seller, who promised to deliver the goods within three to seven days.
He added the victim only realised she had been scammed after reading comments left by others on the same Facebook page, claiming they had been cheated by a syndicate
In another similar case, Noorzainy said a man, who is also another private sector worker, lost RM2,900 in an online purchase deal for the same face masks, last Friday.
Noorzainy said to date, there had been eight cases of face mask scams in the district, with total losses amounting to RM52,585 since the movement control order (MCO) was implemented.
Other scams are also continuing during this MCO period. In KUANTAN, a female teacher paid a heavy price for befriending and trusting a friend claiming to be from Indonesia when she was cheated of RM93,000.
Pahang Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Mohd Wazir Mohd Yusof said the 42-year-old victim became acquainted with the man last February through one of her family members.
“On April 6, the suspect contacted the victim to inform her that he had arrived in Malaysia, but claimed that he had to pay extra fees to a Malaysian agency for documentation purposes.”
He told the victim he was unable to exchange his money for local currency and asked for the victim’s help to transfer some money to him.
The victim performed five money transfer transactions totalling RM93,000 into a bank account provided by the suspect before realising she had been duped.
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