JOHOR BAHRU, Nov 29 — An account manager of a private company lost RM444,000 to a stock investment scam that promised multiple profits allegedly using the ‘Arcadia Equity’ app.

Johor Bahru South district police chief ACP Raub Selamat said the 53-year-old local man lodged a police report yesterday claiming he was first contacted by a man claiming to be a stock investment consultant who invited him to invest in the stock market in July.

He said that by the end of October, the victim started making investments through the ‘Arcadia Equity’ app and transferred a total of RM444,000 into seven different accounts through 16 transactions between Oct 31 to Nov 22.

"After doing so, the victim found that his investment account showed a very high profit of RM3,163,460.43,” he said in a statement today.

Raub said when the victim wanted to withdraw the money from the account, he was asked to pay a commission of 10 per cent or RM289,000, and that was when he realised that he had been duped.

In another case, an elderly New Zealander lost his savings of RM216,000 to a non-existent investment scheme last month.

Johor Bahru North district police chief ACP Balveer Singh Mahindar Singh said in a police report lodge yesterday, the 61-year-old man claimed that he was contacted by a man on Oct 2, during which he was introduced and lured to a website https://m.worldcoinkk.com to join an investment.

"The victim was promised a profit of three to five per cent per month from the value ‘invested’ to a Hong Leong bank account in the name of SPB International Sdn Bhd,” he said.

Balveer Singh said that, between Oct 3 to 25, the victim had made 27 transactions totalling RM216,000 for the investment, before realising that he was cheated.

Both cases were investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code. — Bernama