“There have been 13 cases of Internet fraud this year and nine of the victims were female.
“None of them had seen their scammers’ faces and yet could fall in love with them,” Chong added.
Joe had asked Lim for a RM1mil loan last October to settle his financial troubles and she deposited it into three different bank accounts registered under the name of Zanariah.
He then said he was abroad, but asked her to meet him at KLIA on Dec 7.
She waited for four hours in vain.
She had also transferred an extra US$7,000 (RM21,000) for Joe’s travel expenses.
Besides her savings, Lim had also borrowed from friends, family and financial organisations to raise the RM1mil.
Chong advised the public to be more careful as scammers had developed new tactics to con their victims.
“They show fake approval letters and even tap into an organisation’s phone number,” he said, showing two “support letters” Joe used to convince Lim.
The case comes after reports of a new telephone scam demanding victims to give “donations” allegedly for Barisan Nasional’s election fund.
The “Bukit Aman police scam” began three weeks ago with victims receiving phone calls from a number registered under the Bukit Aman Police Headquarters.
A “Datuk Halim” from the Commercial Crime desk would inform victims of a money laundering charge against them and ask them to deposit money in an account for the election fund.
Three near-victims approached Chong, who said there had been at least eight similar cases this year.
“They claimed to be acting on the Prime Minister’s orders and asked between RM3,000 and RM5,000 from each victim,” Chong said.
Telephone scam losses amounted to more than RM1.5mil this year, while Internet fraud losses stand at RM1.8mil.
Lonely hearts are easily tempted with sweet promises.
When the heart rules the mind, it does not matter if you are a Mara or Harvard graduate.