A 77-year-old American woman has learned the hard way that meeting a stranger on the Internet who promises you love, and then asks for your money, will almost certainly end badly.
The woman believed she had found true love after connecting with a “dashing construction tycoon” on social media. Soon, passionate emails began to be exchanged between the two, and the woman found herself in the throes of love.
Then he told her he could double her money if she invested in his business.
Cue: slow-motion ‘Noooooo. Stooopppp.’ Oh Malaysia, ever the capital of Southeast Asian love scams.
The woman wired the man RM962,000 (US$225,000) to his bank account. She later sent him a further RM256,500 (US$60,000) via two separate courier packages. It was then that her “tycoon” asked for her to meet him in Malaysia. We’ll put our money on her having to buy her own ticket for this.
Flying into Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, her real nightmare was only getting started.
The Star reports that a man met the woman at KLIA and claimed to be an associate of her paramour. He asked the woman, whose identity is being withheld, to follow him and he would take her to finally meet the tycoon who had been writing her sweet nothings.
What followed was a hotel in Puchong, where the woman had her luggage, identification and travel documents taken from her. It was then that she decided to go to the US embassy, where staff there broke the news to the woman that it was more than likely she has been involved in an elaborate lonely hearts scam.
US embassy officials contacted the Malaysian Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department, who were told that the woman has sent another package of money to a location in Setapak.
After staking out the location, they apprehended the two men who received the package.
Police seized RM128,325 (US$30,000), various travel documents, mobile phones, ATM cards and a vehicle. Police were also able to access some of the emails exchanged between the “tycoon” and US woman, and police called the men “experts at manipulating victims.”
The two men arrested were of African descent, and had been living in Malaysia since 2015 on student visas. They were aged 26 and 33. Other members of the syndicate are currently being hunted by police.
They are also trying to retrace the remaining RM1.09 million (US$255,000). Good luck with that one.
Police report a worrying trend that although between January and June 2017, scam losses reported in Malaysia were down RM50.5 million (US$ 11 million) from RM53.4 million (US$12 million) from last year. However, the number of scams was up, from 950 to 1,302 in that same period.
Damn, there’s a lot of lonely hearts out there. Word to the wise, and weary: if anyone says they love you, and then asks for money (hello, every bf of my 20s) they’re not a good person. Especially if you’ve never met them in person. Don’t send the money. Just don’t. OK? Go buy yourself a Jag and do you.
