Alor Gajah police chief Arshad Abu said the contractor, in his 30s, had responded to an advertisement on Facebook about the so-called “MIT Investment” on Dec 26.

He said the fraudulent Bitcoin investment scheme offered three packages – basic, premium and gold – with promised returns of between RM8,000 and RM50,000, depending on the rise in Bitcoin prices.

“The man, who is from Alor Gajah, got in touch with the suspect via WhatsApp and was given details of the capital investment needed and the promised returns.

“Under the basic package, an investor was promised returns of between RM8,000 and RM12,000 in three hours with an investment of RM300,” he said in a statement here today.

For the premium package, a RM1,000 investment was said to be able to give returns of RM18,000 to RM25,000 within six hours while the gold package involved a RM1,800 investment with returns of RM30,000 to RM50,000.

Attracted by the lucrative returns, the contractor made 12 transfers totalling RM146,313 to nine different bank accounts over a three-day period beginning on Dec 27.

Arshad said the contractor lodged a report at the Rumbia police station yesterday after failing to get any profits from his investment.

Police are investigating the case under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.

He advised people not to fall for online investment schemes offering unusually high returns.

“Anyone who suspects they have fallen prey to scammers should immediately contact the National Scam Response Centre at 997 so that the money transferred to the syndicates can be blocked,” he added.