[Straits Times] A 58-YEAR-OLD divorcee's romance with a 'young and handsome Englishman' over the Internet turned out to be a nightmare after she was duped of RM370,000 (S$155,750) in life savings.The 'Englishman' turned out to be a picture of a good-looking man posted by a group of African con artists on a matchmaking website and later posted to the woman.
Malacca police chief Senior Assistant Commissioner 1 Datuk Chua Ghee Lye said the woman had banked in the money after she was made to believe that the 'Englishman' was in love with her. SAC Chua said that the woman had been chatting and exchanging photographs with the man via the Internet since last month.
He said it was then that the man told the divorcee that he had managed to secure a roadwork project in Kuching worth millions of ringgit but that he needed money to procure equipment. 'The victim, who trusted the man, deposited her life savings into a local bank account,' he said.
However,
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a relative of the woman, suspecting something was amiss, decided to conduct a check on the 'Englishman' and found that she had been conned, added SAC Chua. The woman subsequently lodged a police report.
SAC Chua said police managed to track down the domain address the matchmaking website was operating from and tossed in the calaboose the con artists - an Ugandan, two Nigerians and a local man - at various locations in Selangor, Seremban and Kuala Lumpur.The men were aged between 20 and 30 years.