MIRI: An offshore worker is believed to have been fleeced more than RM87,000 by a female Facebook ‘friend’.
It was understood the scam artist said her name was ‘Natasha Vera’, from the United Kingdom.
Their ‘courtship’ began sometime in May this year.
Misery for the victim started when ‘Natasha’ sent him a parcel purportedly containing two million euros (about RM8.35 million) as a gift for their friendship.
Miri deputy police chief, Supt Stanley Jonathan Ringgit, when contacted yesterday, said someone by the name of ‘David Robert’ then got in touch with the victim and instructed him to pay a certain amount of money for an ‘anti money laundering certificate’ before he could get the parcel.
The victim obliged and deposited money into four different bank accounts from June till August.
“However, when ‘David’ could not be contacted after he made the payments, the victim realised he had been cheated, and he lodged a police report yesterday (on Thursday.”
Supt Stanley said police were investigating the case under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property.
Meanwhile, he reminded members of the public not to be greedy and to be cautious when they receive too-good-to-be-true offers.
“Over the years, we have come across many such cases. Once the money is banked in, it’s virtually impossible to get it back.”