Malaysian Senior Lost Over RM299,000 in Meta Cryptocurrency Scheme

A 62-year-old woman from Malaysia has become the latest victim of a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment scheme that was advertised on the social media platform Meta (formerly known as Facebook). The senior citizen found herself defrauded of over RM299,000.

According to ACP Ismail Dollah, Batu Pahat district police chief, the scam began in April when the senior citizen started dealing with a man running a company called Syarikat Bitcoin Yoamax.

The investment program, which was actively promoted on Meta and WhatsApp, promised lucrative returns. To join the program, the victim shared her personal information, including her name, ID number, and banking details, and proceeded to download the Yoamax application.

Initially, the victim deposited RM35,320 across seven transactions. However, when she later attempted to withdraw the supposed profits, an individual contacted her, insisting that additional funds were necessary before any withdrawals could be processed.

The woman deposited another RM164,417 after being deceived into thinking this money would be returned.

The scammers continued deceiving the senior citizen, falsely telling her an additional RM99,636 was needed for foreign currency exchange purposes. But after making the deposits, reports claimed that she didn’t receive any payments, profits, or her initial capital back.

In total, the elderly victim lost over RM299,000 before realizing she had been scammed and lodging a police report.In related news, one of the most recent crypto scams involved the hacking of crypto oracle Tellor’s X (formerly Twitter) account to promote a fake token airdrop scam. Hackers advertised a non-existent airdrop for Tellor’s native TRB token, but the link provided led to a phishing website.