Taiping Housewife Loses Over RM140,000 To 'Task Scam'

IPOH, July 13 (Bernama) -- A housewife from Taiping was left devastated after losing RM144,558 to a so-called ‘task scam’ in early March.

Taiping police chief ACP Mohamad Nasir Ismail said the 46-year-old victim lodged a police report on July 9 after realising she had been duped by the syndicate.

“Initial investigations revealed that the victim was contacted via the Telegram app by several individuals who offered her online jobs.

“She was tasked with following several accounts on e-commerce platforms Shopee and Lazada to boost their profile visibility, and was promised payments of RM5 to RM8 per task, depending on the views and ratings,” he said in a statement.

Mohamad Nasir said that although the victim received payment notifications after completing each task, the funds could not be accessed or withdrawn.

“The victim was later told she had allegedly committed an error on a task and was required to make payments to recover her Shopee and Lazada accounts,” he said.

He said the victim subsequently made 22 transactions to 12 different accounts as instructed by the suspect, but her accounts were never returned.

“After the last transaction, the victim was again asked to make another deposit, but nothing materialised and the truth finally dawned on the victim that she had been scammed,” he said.

He said the case was being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.

-- BERNAMA