ALOR GAJAH, July 9 — A trader claimed to have been deceived by a non-existent investment scheme resulting in a loss of RM285,000.

Alor Gajah district police chief Supt Arshad Abu said on April 24, the 46-year-old victim who was at home at the time, saw an investment advertisement on Facebook promising a 20 per cent return every week.

"The complainant then contacted the suspect who claimed to be 'Annie' on WhatsApp before making payments in stages amounting to RM285,000 into three different bank accounts.

"The victim also logged in to the suspect's website and saw that he had received 20 per cent profit for the first week of investment, prompting him to increase his investment,” he said in a statement here today.

However, the complainant soon learned that he could no longer access the website and lodged a police report after not getting the profit as promised.

Meanwhile, Arshad said that in a different case, a woman who worked as a hospital laboratory assistant suffered a loss of RM120,000 after being cheated of a non-existent investment.

He said that the 29-year-old victim had met a man through Facebook in November 2020 to start investing in an investment scheme that promised her a good return.

"The complainant, on November 19, 2020, deposited RM85,000 into the suspect's bank account in Masjid Tanah and another RM35,000 into another man’s account at a bank in Alor Gajah.

"The woman was also promised a 5 per cent or RM4,038 every month but she only received RM12,114 for a period of three months,” he said.

However, the complainant claimed that she did not receive the promised investment profits after that and decided to lodge a police report.

He said both cases were investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating. — Bernama