Kuala Lumpur (The Star/ANN) - A lonely consultant from Penang in Malaysia lost about 300,000 ringgit (US$99,000) to a smooth conman who promised to marry her.
The woman, who only wished to be identified as Azlina, 49, said she began visiting chat sites for companionship and was contacted by a man who introduced himself as Hassan Williams, 50, a Muslim American in October last year.
"He captured my heart. He knows what Malay women look for in a man and knew Malay customs very well," Azlina said, adding that the online romance continued for a month before he asked her to marry him.
"I believed he was sincere and was excited when he asked me to move to Atlanta, Georgia.
"However, Hassan then told me his business had run into some trouble and he needed some money," she said.
She then took out her life savings, and in 25 transactions over three months transferred the money to several bank accounts apparently located in the Caribbean and Cayman Islands.
When she ran out of money, Azlina said Hassan stopped contacting her.
On March 17, a person claiming to be his friend called to tell her he had died recently and asked her to stop calling his number.
"At this point, I had already found out that Hassan was not who he claimed to be, but I still wanted to talk to him.
"And the person who called had an unmistakable African accent," she said.
Because of his understanding of Malay customs, Azlina became convinced that the conman lived in Malaysia.
She then contacted Malaysian Chinese Association Public Services and Complaints Department head Michael Chong to warn other women.
"When women my age can't find a husband, some of us can get desperate," she said at a press conference.
Chong said he had received reports of nine similar cases last year with loses amounting to over 2 million ringgit.
"This year itself, I have already received three cases where the victims lost a total of 305,000 ringgit," said Chong.
Also at the conference was Umno Youth complaints community bureau chairman Mohd Khairun Aseh who said he would bring the matter to the party's attention.
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