KUCHING, March 24 — A 33-year-old woman from Miri lost over RM200,000 in a love scam by a man who claimed to be a doctor from the United Kingdom, Sarawak Commercial Crimes Investigation Department (CCID) chief Superintendent Maria anak Rasid said today.

She said the woman befriended the man through a dating app, OKCupid, on June 1 last year. He introduced himself as Doctor Mason Harrison Davis attached to Cardiff Hospital, Wales, United Kingdom.

"Later, the man told the victim that he wanted to marry her and told her he would move to Malaysia after the marriage,” Maria said in a statement.

She said the scammer then told the victim that he would send about £155,000 (RM828,812.16) to her through "Syarikat Transfast”.

Maria said the man then told her that she needed to send RM200,000 to get the sum transferred to her account.

"The victim made 20 transactions to transfer RM203,642 to 11 bank accounts under the name of an unknown individual, from July 7, 2020, to March 17 this year, claimed to be for payment of tax for the release of the £155,000,” Maria said.

She said the victim only realised she was duped in the love scam when the suspect kept on asking her to bank in more money.

Maria advised social media users to avoid using status updates saying they were lonely, looking for a relationship, or looking for a life partner.

She said these would attract the attention of cybercriminals.

"Socia media users should not be so gullible to accept marriage offers from other users whose identities are unknown,” she said.