A civil servant in Terengganu lost RM55,334 after falling victim to a fake online part-time job and commission scam.
KUALA TERENGGANU: A woman lost RM55,334 after falling victim to an online scam involving a non-existent part-time job offer.
District police chief ACP Azli Mohd Noor said on May 11, the 33-year-old civil servant contacted the suspect after coming across an advertisement promoting side-income opportunities on Instagram.
He said the female suspect, who claimed to be an administrative mentor at a company, introduced several part-time job packages offering attractive commission rates.
“The task only required the victim to verify products on a digital platform via links provided by the suspect. The victim completed three initial tasks and received RM1,176 in payments,” he said in a statement today.
“The suspect then persuaded the victim to upgrade her membership package in order to receive higher commissions. However, the tasks had to be carried out in a group via Telegram app, monitored by other suspects,” he said in a statement today.
Azli said the victim made a payment of RM3,350 to access further tasks but failed to receive the promised commission, allegedly due to an incorrect product verification.
“The suspect then instructed the victim to pay RM16,450 to rectify the mistake so that all group members could receive the promised RM32,000 commission.
“One of the group members claimed to be a housewife with a critically ill child. Worried that her mistake would affect other members, the victim made the payment as instructed,” he said.
He added that the suspect later informed the victim that the group’s commission had increased to RM440,000, however, to withdraw the money, the victim needed to pay an eight per cent tax to the Inland Revenue Board.
“The victim subsequently made payments totalling RM35,534 into two different accounts on May 12 and 15 using her savings.
“She realised she had been scammed after failing to withdraw the money from the digital account provided by the suspect. She lodged a police report at 8.12 pm yesterday, and the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code,” he said.
