SIBU (June 26): A clerk, 38, claims the loss of RM15,000 to a love scam.
According to police chief ACP Stanley Jonathan Ringgit, the clerk had befriended a man by the name Lukiet on Facebook on May 22 who claimed that he came from Korea and was working as a consultant drilling equipment specialist in Kuching.
In love, they kept in touch with each other through the phone.
“Lukiet promised the clerk that he would go to Sibu to marry her. On June 22, about 7pm, Lukiet asked the clerk to transfer RM15,000 to a given account for purchasing drilling machines.
“Lukiet told her that he had some problems with his bank account. The next day (June 23), the clerk made two deposits – RM9,000 at 11.22am and RM6,000 at 11.33am,” he said.
Later, Lukiet asked for an additional RM35,000 for the same purpose. However, the clerk did not make any transaction this time after realising she had been scammed.
She then lodged a police report.
Another woman, 40, also fell victim of love scam losing RM10,360.
Stanley said the woman had befriended a man who identified himself as Dr Zhang through LINE application about 11am on May 3.
Nearly a month into their ‘love relationship’ Dr Zhang said that he had sent a gift worth RM80,000 to the woman as a sign of his love for her.
On June 11, at 9.31am, the woman transferred RM6,000 to a given bank account.
Dr Zhang said the money would be used to pay for his child school fee who is studying in the United States.
On June 18, the woman received an email from Shanghai Jinjian Delivery Company saying the package that had been sent to her was detained at a port in China.
She made two transactions to two different accounts, the first one (RM2,360) was made at 4.19pm on June 18 for delivery cost, and the second one (RM2,000) was made at 7.12am on June 23 for additional payment.
The woman then tried to contact Dr Zhang regarding the matter but to no avail.
Until now, the woman has yet to receive the package promised her.
Stanley said the cases would be investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property.