Retiree ends up poorer instead of winning RM3.5mil

SEGAMAT: A retiree, who thought he won RM3.5mil from a lottery ticket, ended up losing his life savings to two conmen who duped him into believing that the money was needed to pay for some special prayers to enable him to win more in future.

The incident happened when the victim, in his 60s, was approached by two men while he was in Chaah town several weeks ago.

A police official said two men approached the victim saying that he would be getting a windfall if they helped him purchase a lottery ticket.

“The man was not convinced but the suspects then gave him a piece of paper which was rolled up and tied,” the official said, adding that the victim was told not to open the paper until the next day.

The official said the suspects then told the victim to meet up with them the next day and to come with a bottle of water and an egg.

“Next day during their meeting, the suspects asked the victim to open the paper and he was shocked to find a winning lottery ticket for RM3.5mil. They even showed him a newspaper clipping with the winning numbers.

“However, the suspects would only hand over the ticket to the victim if he pays more than RM200,000 for some special prayers,” the official said, adding that the victim agreed and handed over the cash in several transactions.

The victim only realised he was duped after the suspects refused to pick up his call after several weeks and also did not hand over the winning ticket.

Meanwhile, a teacher in her 30s from Ledang, was cheated about RM220,000 in a Macau scam several days ago.

The official said that the victim received a call several days ago from a man purportedly from Pos Malaysia alleging that there was a parcel sent to the victim containing identity cards and fake credit cards from Sarawak.

“The teacher was then connected to a police inspector who said the victim was involved in human smuggling and money laundering. He demanded that she pay some money as surety,” the official said, adding that the worried teacher then transferred about RM220,000 via more than a dozen transactions to various accounts.

The woman lodged a report after she was unable to contact the “policeman”.

Meanwhile in another scam, a tuition teacher in her 20s from Batu Pahat, lost almost RM200,000 in a bogus investment scheme several days ago.

The police said the victim befriended a salesman via Facebook who enticed the victim to invest in an online scheme which promised huge returns.

“The victim was told that she was able to track her investment online and payments will be made daily after 10am,” the official said, adding that the woman then decided to transfer RM200,000 for the investment over a period of about one week.

However, she too lodged a report after she did not get any of her returns or discount vouchers.

The official said that all three cases were being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.

The police reminded the public, especially senior citizens and retirees, to be cautious when contacted by people, claiming to be courier company agents, who would transfer the call to supposed enforcement officers.

He urged the public to use the Semak Mule mobile app or go to https://semakmule.rmp.gov.my to check if any bank accounts or phone numbers have been associated with suspicious activities to avoid falling victim to scams.