BUKIT MERTAJAM: A government retiree claimed to have lost RM229,800 after being tricked by a woman into participating in an investment scheme that did not exist.

Seberang Perai Tengah police chief ACP Helmi Aris said the 62-year-old victim claimed that he was lured into investing in the scheme by an Indonesian woman known as Zizah because of the promise of lucrative returns.

He said that according to the victim, the woman had contacted him on March 4, thinking that he was a plumber and asked why he had not turned up at her house to repair the pipes, but the man denied this.

“Since then, the victim and the woman were in frequent contact via telephone conversations and during one of the conversations, she invited the victim to invest in the scheme by promising lucrative returns.

“Within two days of making the investments, the suspect then sent him a link to a website,“ said Helmi in a statement.

He said the victim initially made seven transactions in small amounts to five different bank accounts and obtained a return on capital and profits as promised.

Following that, he said, the victim made seven more transactions to the same account, but did not receive any returns on his investments and lodged a police report last April 28 after realising he had been cheated when his attempts to contact the woman went futile.

The police are investigating the case under Section 420 of the Penal Code.

This article first appeared on The Sun.