KUALA TERENGGANU, July 19 — An electrician lost RM150,000 after falling victim to a non-existent investment syndicate early this month.

Kuala Terengganu police chief ACP Azli Mohd Noor said the 48-year-old victim received a WhatsApp message on July 3 from a woman promoting an investment scheme known as “Centralize International”.

He said the suspect persuaded the victim to participate by promising substantial returns within a short period.

“Initially, the suspect instructed the victim to make five small investments and credited him with the promised returns. This was done to convince the victim that the scheme was genuine and profitable.

“The suspect later offered a larger investment package requiring a capital outlay of RM100,000, promising an additional profit bonus of about RM70,000,” he said in a statement today.

Azli said the victim, lured by the promise of lucrative returns, transferred a total of RM150,000 through four separate transactions to four different bank accounts between July 8 and July 16.

However, after making the payments, the victim neither received the promised profit nor was able to access his funds after discovering that his investment account had been frozen.

“The suspect then instructed the victim to make further payments to reactivate the investment account and enable the withdrawal of the purported bonus.

“Realising he had been duped, the victim lodged a police report at 5.07pm yesterday. The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code,” he said. — Bernama