Retired Johor engineer loses S$2.87 million in crypto scam

SINGAPORE: A man fell victim to a scam involving a cryptocurrency investment, losing RM9,474,310 (S$2,877,000) since July last year, said Datuk M. Kumar, the Johor police chief, earlier this week. The victim of the scam, a 63-year-old retired engineer living in Johor, has not been named by the police.

Mr Kumar said that the man had been lured by an advertisement on social media that offered high returns on Bitcoin investments, The New Straits Times reported on Jan 14.

The police chief said the former engineer had clicked a link on the advertisement and then was added to a group chat on Whatsapp. Following this, two people reached out to him to explain the terms of the Bitcoin investment, telling him he would receive as much as 50 times the amount he invested.

“After being convinced, the victim downloaded and registered an investment account on a recommended application to monitor his investments,” Mr Kumar added. Subsequently, the man made 29 payments to 11 separate bank accounts between October and December.

The app, at one point, showed he had made a profit of RM88 million (S$26.7 million). However, when he tried to withdraw the money, he was told he needed to pay an additional RM800,000 (S$243,000) so that his investment could be released to him.

However, the former engineer refused to do so. His doubts began to grow when the two people with whom he had dealings for the “investment” could no longer be contacted on the phone numbers they had used to reach him.

The Johor police chief said that the victim’s case is being investigated and urged everyone to be cautious about offers of investment on social media, especially those that promise high returns. Anyone who finds an investment to be suspicious should check with the police, Bank Negara Malaysia, and the Securities Commission before putting in any money. Mr Kumar also said that staying informed about such scams and related types of crimes is key to avoiding being duped.

“We encouraged the public to use the ‘Semak Mule’ service to check the status of bank accounts and phone numbers provided by the investment agents before making any payments,” he added. /TISG

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