JOHOR BARU, Sept 30 — A contractor lost RM688,000 to an online investment scam called DFA after he came across it on Facebook on July 26.

Seri Alam district police chief Supt Mohd Sohaimi Ishak said the man, 50, was interested in the investment scheme and contacted the suspect, who then added him into the investment WhatsApp group, where the victim remained in contact via video calls and were taught to invest and promised up to 410 per cent profits through five investment phases in five months.

"The victim was given an agreement letter via WhatsApp and asked to download an investment app called ATS-P, and he made 17 transactions between July 31 and Sept 8 to three different bank accounts.

"Until August, the victim had entered the fourth investment phase by investing RM688,000 and received RM64,000 but was unable to withdraw the amount in early September,” he said in a statement today.

When the victim failed to withdraw his profits, he contacted the suspect and was asked to make a further payment to continue the investment plan but the victim refused, resulting in his account being frozen and made inaccessible.

The victim then grew suspicious and checked up on the company’s headquarters and was informed that the company had never been involved in any form of investment schemes.

Realising he was scammed, the victim then lodged a police report at the Seri Alam police district headquarters yesterday.

"The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for fraud and we will also look into the involvement of mule accounts, and action will be taken against the account owners if they are involved,” he added. — Bernama