The 39-year-old woman from Johor got to know the foreigner on Facebook. He claimed he was from Scotland and soon won her heart to become her “boyfriend”.

“After winning her heart, the ‘boyfriend’ then arranged for her to meet with another man who was, said to be from Liberia,” Iskandar Puteri police chief superintendent Noor Hashim Mohamad said in a statement yesterday, adding that the Liberian told her he was a diplomat from the United Kingdom.

When the woman met the Liberian man, she was shown huge stacks of US dollar notes and ringgit as well.

According to Hashim, the Liberian man then showed the woman that the money was “created” by using an expensive chemical to bleach “blank paper”, and was able to convince her to buy the chemical.

“The woman then distributed RM500,000 in several accounts to get the chemical. When the victim realised that it was a scam, she lodged a report on Dec 6,” Noor Hashim was quoted as saying by the daily.

According to NST, following initial investigations into this latest “African scam”, sometimes called the “love scam”, the police were able to nab six Nigerians and a Liberian.

The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the penal code for cheating and inducing delivery of property, for which they can be liable to a maximum 10 years imprisonment, fine, or both, upon conviction.