JOHOR BAHRU: A 52-year-old kindergarten teacher lost RM100,000 after she mistakenly believed WhatsApp messages claiming to be her husband’s, while he was abroad.

It was later discovered that her husband’s WhatsApp account had been hacked.

Johor Bahru South District Police Chief ACP Raub Selamat said in a statement today that police had received a report on the incident and were investigating the case classified as cheating under Section 420 of the Penal Code.

He revealed that the incident occurred last Friday.

The victim’s husband, who works as a manager, was in China for a week on business.

“At that time, the victim received a WhatsApp message from an overseas number. The sender claimed to be her husband and said his bank account was temporarily unavailable, asking her to help transfer money for business purposes,” said ACP Raub.

Believing that the message was genuine, the victim made seven separate transfers totaling RM100,000 to three different bank accounts.

Later, when she called her husband to ask about the transfers, he was shocked to discover that his WhatsApp account had been hacked.

Only then did she realize she had been scammed, and she subsequently lodged a police report.

Raub said police are currently investigating to identify and locate the suspect.

“Initial investigations showed that the three bank accounts provided by the scammer had no prior records of fraud according to checks with the National Scam Response Center,” he added.

He urged the public to be cautious when receiving requests for money transfers and verify suspicious bank accounts or phone numbers through the Semak Mule website before making any transactions.