Claiming to be a ‘wealthy mining businessman from China’, a 37-year-old conman managed to cheat a single mother of RM90,000
It all started with the messaging app, WeChat.
The Star Online’s Jastin Ahmad Tarmizi reports that the sweet-talking ‘Casanova’ named Zhu met the 33-year-old woman after finding her through the ‘discover people nearby’ function on the app.
He had sent her a message and after several chats, they became friends, the woman named Betty said at the MCA Public Services Complaints Department as she sought help from its head Michael Chong.
They met in Genting Highlands where she had been holidaying with her mum. Zhu claimed that he too was there on holiday from China.
As their relationship began to turn intimate, he began using her own money – more than RM30,000 – to gamble.
“After losing all the money, he persuaded me to borrow RM20,000 from a loan shark, promising to repay me as he was waiting for a relative to send him money from China,” she was quoted as saying.
When he lost everything, he made her borrow an additional RM54,000 from loan sharks which he then gambled away.
Shortly after this, he disappeared and Betty attempted suicide.
Chong said he has so far received more than eight reports on ‘Casanova’ conmen since last year and reminded women to be careful of strangers they meet online.
