Man escapes Net love scam

By K. KASTURI DEWI
kasturidewi@thestar.com.my

GEORGE TOWN: Yet another person almost fell victim to the infamous Internet romance scam when a young “beautiful English woman” started courting and wooing him over the Internet.

But the love-struck businessman got a little suspicious and reported the matter to the Penang Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) when a “Customs officer” called him and asked for money.

The MACC swung into action and arrested the “English woman”, who happened to be a 24-year-old Malaysian.

The MACC team also arrested the woman’s husband, mother and a Nigerian man who is believed to be the mastermind.

The woman and her 25-year-old husband were arrested when they went to the state MACC office yesterday to have their statements recorded.

State MACC director Datuk Latifah Md Yatim told a press conference yesterday that the woman, who had earlier posted a picture of a beautiful English woman on the Internet, began chatting with the businessman last year.

“She claimed that she was in her 20s and the victim eventually fell in love with her,” she said.

Latifah said the businessman received a call in early March this year from a man identifying himself as a Customs officer, asking for the businessman to credit RM5,000 into his account.

“The money was to secure the release of his ‘English’ girlfriend who had been detained at the KL Inter­national Airport for bringing more than £50,000 (RM241,000) into Malaysia.”

The following day, the businessman received another call from the “officer” asking for an additional RM3,000 to be banked in as there were some problems in securing the release of the girlfriend.

“Suspecting something amiss, the businessman lodged a report with the MACC here,” she said.