Woman loses RM190,000 of life savings to cryptocurrency scam

PASIR GUDANG: A 50-year-old woman lost RM190,000 worth of her life savings after falling for a cryptocurrency investment scam here.

Seri Alam OCPD Supt Mohd Sohaimi Ishak said that the victim, who is an international school staff, was offered an investment scheme by a man that she befriended through Instagram.

“The suspect offered a cryptocurrency investment opportunity and explained to her how to invest,” he said.

“He also showed a graph of the high revenue that the victim will get if she decides to invest. He had also shown pictures of the luxurious lifestyle that she could have obtained from the investment,” he said in a statement here on Monday (July 22).

Supt Mohd Sohaimi added that the victim downloaded the Luno app and made six financial transactions worth RM190,000 through it between June 10 and July 16.

“The money is used to purchase cryptocurrency inside the app. She then transfers the cryptocurrency into another account wallet inside the app.

“She was later shown that she had made a sizable profit. However, the money could not be withdrawn without another payment,” he said, adding that the victim lodged a police report on July 21.

The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating. We will also investigate any cases of mule accounts being used in this scam; stern action will be taken against the owner involved,” added Supt Mohd Sohaimi.