Update 24 May 2012

Date started: 2010
Name: not revealed (woman)
Age: 63
Location: KL
Occupation: not revealed
Money lost: RM5 million
Scammer claims to be: a general from the United States
Scammer is in fact: a KL-based syndicate made up of 15 Nigerian men aged between 25 & 30 and a 50-year-old local woman, who is a lover of one of the men.
How met: internet
Modus operandi: got the victim to fall in love with him without even meeting up. Then proposed an investment scheme.
How ended: police nabbed suspects after being tracked when woman’s daughter lodged a report in September 2011.

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Update 10 December 2011

Date started: September 2011
Name: Ms Lim
Age: 47
Location: KL
Occupation: insurance broker
Money lost: RM1.02 million
Scammer claims to be: a 48-year-old Canadian chemical engineer with Petronas in Tereng­ganu
Scammer is in fact: as yet unknown
How met: a website for singles (online matchmaking site)
Modus operandi: got the victim to fall in love with him without even meeting up. Then create sob story of being in financial trouble and ask for RM1 million loan. Once that’s done, disappears.
How ended: finally realised that she’s being conned when he stood her up in early December 2011

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14 September 2011

The following are some examples of cases of Malaysians being cheated of huge amounts of money by Africans utilising the infamous 419 / parcel scams.

Note: On 10th May 2011, Daily Express reported that so far in the year, 2 Sabahan women were cheated of more than RM1 million each by people they met on Facebook. Are Sabah women the most gullible?

Date: September 2011
Name: Madam X
Age: early 50s
Location: Petaling Jaya
Occupation: ?
Money lost: almost RM500K
Scammer claims to be: a British Army Brigadier-General stationed in a middle eastern country
Scammer is in fact: a Nigerian
How met: a website for singles
Modus operandi: scammer claims to have USD20m, needed to take it out of his present location, asks Madam X to help channel to Malaysia, offers 50% as commission on condition that money wired to various countries to “facilitate transfer”
How ended: Niece managed to convince her that she’s being scammed.

Date: May 2011
Name: (female)
Age: ?
Location: Shah Alam
Occupation: ?
Money lost: RM1.1 million
Scammer claims to be: a British man
Scammer is in fact: a group including Nigerians and Bangladeshis
How met: Facebook
Modus operandi: after befriending, tell that he needs her bank account number to bank in money from his contract with Petronas worth millions, but first she needs to help him pay for stamp duties and insurance fees in order to get his contract sanctioned, because “he can’t afford it at that time”.
How ended: victim runs out of money

Date: June 2010
Name: ? (female)
Age: 73
Location: Georgetown
Occupation: ?
Money lost: RM155,000
Scammer claims to be: a British man
Scammer is in fact: a Nigerian
How met: online instant messaging
Modus operandi: take several months to win trust, then tell victim that he has sent expensive gifts. An accomplice pretending to be a Customs officer would then call to tell that the gifts are stuck in Customs due to an offence and a fine needs to be paid to a bank account.
How ended: money paid, communications cut off.

Date: December 2009
Name: ? (male)
Age: 55
Location: Kuala Terengganu
Occupation: pensioner
Money lost: RM124,340
Scammer claims to be: Katherine Khalifa of Liberia
Scammer is in fact: a Senegalese (?)
How met: internet
Modus operandi: after befriending victim, scammer sends boo-hoo email telling him that she’s in jail and needs help to withdraw millions from her dad’s account, in return he’ll get some of the money.
How ended: money paid, communications cut off.

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