Jasmani Sabrini, acting head of the Kedah police commercial crime investigation department, said the 54-year-old victim had been duped four times by scammers offering non-existent loan schemes.

Last Sunday, the victim lodged a new police report after being scammed yet again, Bernama reported.

“On May 16, the victim was browsing Facebook when he came across an advertisement stating, ‘If you are a victim of a scam, please contact us.’ The victim clicked on the link and provided his name and phone number.

“He was subsequently contacted via WhatsApp and asked to fill in his personal details for application purposes. Before the application could be processed, the victim was instructed to make an advance payment to open a file,” said Jasmani.

He said the man made eight online transfers to several bank accounts under the names of different individuals and companies between May 28 and June 28 last year.

“At the time the police report was lodged, the party involved was still demanding additional payments under the pretext of recovering the victim’s money.”

Jasmani urged the public to exercise vigilance when encountering online advertisements offering to help scam victims recover money lost to scams.