A local woman in her forties lost 12,500 euros after being cheated by a purported “American soldier” – whom she met online – who told the victim to deposit the money into a bank account so that he would give her half of his “retirement fund” of US$3.2 million, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Tam Weng Keong said during a regular press conference yesterday.
According to Tam, the victim met a man on the Internet early last month, who claimed to be an American soldier. The man told the woman that he would be sent to fight in a war. The man told her that as he did not want to go to war, he intended to apply to leave the army, Tam said.The man went on to say that he could only apply to be discharged if he had a wife – but that his wife had died. The man asked the victim to “pretend” to be his wife so that he would be able to apply to leave, Tam said, adding that the victim agreed to the man’s request.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Tam Weng Keong poses during yesterday’s regular press conference about the city’s latest online fraud case. Photo: Tony Wong
