Johor police chief M Kumar said the 47-year-old woman became acquainted with a person through TikTok and started communicating via the Line messaging app in July.

The victim was offered a business opportunity through TikTok Mall, promising high, quick and easy returns.

The victim was told to select the type of products to sell and pay upfront the money for items ordered by customers.

“The money was to be returned to the victim with a profit margin of 20-30% once customers received the items.

“Intrigued by the offer, the victim decided to sell baby formulas and was given a link to view customers’ orders,” Kumar said in a statement today.

He said the victim was later contacted by a person claiming to be a TikTok operator, who instructed her to make payments based on the orders received.

“The victim made her first payment to the specified bank account and received her money back, along with a 50% profit, on the same day, which was even higher than the promised rate. This convinced her that the business was legitimate.

“Believing that customer orders were increasing and eager to earn higher profits, the victim followed the given instructions. She made payments to various bank accounts in stages, amounting to RM1,041,100, from the end of July until this month,” Kumar said.

He said the victim realised she had been scammed after she did not receive the promised returns or profits. Attempts to contact the TikTok operator were also unsuccessful.

The woman lodged a police report yesterday.

Scammers targeting the elderly

Meanwhile, Bukit Aman commercial crime investigation department director Ramli Yoosuf said 1,916 elderly people, aged 61 and above, had fallen victim to online scams during the first eight months of this year. This resulted in losses amounting to RM255,367,680.

He said although the number of elderly victims is relatively small compared to other age groups, the financial losses incurred were significant, making them a prime target for scammers.

“Over the past three years (2021 to 2023), a total of 86,266 people have been victims of online fraud. Out of this number, 5,533 victims (or 6.4%) are aged 61 and above,” he said in a statement today.

He this trend had also been observed this year, with 1,916 elderly victims (8.9%) among the 21,535 recorded online fraud cases up to August this year.

Throughout these three years, the total recorded losses amounted to RM2,768,396,952. Losses attributed to elderly victims was RM552,512,422 (or 20% of the total).

During the first eight months of this year, losses involving elderly victims reached RM255,367,680, which was 27.9% of the total losses of RM914,051,236.

In light of this, it was important to disseminate crime prevention information, particularly regarding online fraud, to the elderly.

Ramli said a 72-year-old retired woman reported yesterday that she lost more than RM600,000 after being deceived by a person impersonating a police officer over the phone.

The woman received a call on Sept 20 and was told her phone number had been misused in a cybercrime case and she was also involved in money laundering.

“The victim was also instructed to hand over all her jewellery and gold bars to a person who came to collect the items from her home,” Ramli said.