SIBU: A 33-year-old clerk lodged a police report yesterday, claiming to have lost RM13,300 in a Facebook love scam.
District police chief ACP Stanley Jonathan Ringgit said the clerk got acquainted with a man known as James Hong through Facebook on June 13.
“The duo communicated through WhatApp. On June 15, she received a message from Hong, telling her a big package will be delivered to her as a gift.
“On June 18, she received a message from Hong that he was arrested at Kuala Lumpur International Airport due to the big size of the package,” Stanley said.
He said Hong told her to help pay the RM4,300 import duty to enable his release.
She made two transactions to transfer RM1,000 and RM1,800 into an account purportedly under the name ‘Noorhamiza Hamadi’.
On June 19, Stanley said, the woman received another WhatApp message from Hong, telling her the package contained US$20,000 and she was required to pay RM10,500 as payment to the `United Nations Anti-Terrorist Department’ for the fund to be released.
She transferred the amount into the same account.
Stanley said she only felt something amiss when Hong had continued to ask her to transfer more money.
The police are investigating under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.