Businessman loses RM200,000 in cruise to nowhere
JOHOR BARU: A businessman who was planning a cruise trip with his family lost about RM200,000 when he downloaded a malicious application onto his phone.

The victim, who only wanted to be known as Lee, said he came across the app on March 8 while browsing for a holiday to Singapore with his wife and three children.

“I wanted to take my family on a three-day, two-night cruise to Singapore during the Hari Raya holiday,” he said.

Lee, 47, said he was looking for information about cruises when he came across a Facebook advertisement.

“I was then called by a Singapore-registered number asking for my personal details and informing me that no payment was needed until the day I board the ship.

“The person then gave me a link to an app to verify my booking.

“However, after downloading the app, my phone suddenly shut down,” the businessman said during a press conference organised by Tebrau MP Jimmy Puah yesterday.

Later on March 17, Lee said he tried to access his bank account to make financial transactions on his phone but was unable to do so.

“I then logged in using a laptop. It was then that I noticed my bank balance had gone down and there were financial transfers amounting to RM175,000 to a few unknown accounts.

“Similar transactions amounting to RM35,420 had also been made using my credit card account from a different bank,” he said, adding that he lost a total of RM210,420 of his savings.

What shocked him the most was that there was no one-time-password or request for approval sent to him, he said.

Puah suggested that there should be a scam centre in Johor to address cases like this as this is not the first time such an incident had been reported.

Banks should also set up a scam centre to help victims like Lee, he said.

Puah said he is planning to bring the matter to Bank Negara to find ways to prevent such cases from recurring.

Johor Baru North OCPD Asst Comm Balveer Singh has confirmed receiving a police report on the matter.
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JOHOR BARU: A businessman who was planning a cruise trip with his family lost about RM200,000 when he downloaded a malicious application onto his phone.