A businessman claimed to have lost RM295,950 purportedly by the act of his 14-year-old son, who is believed to have been deceived by a ‘love scam’ syndicate.

Pahang Commercial Crime Investigation Chief, Supt Mohd Wazir Mohd Yusof said that according to the 53-year-old businessman, his son befriended the girl, who claimed to sell smartphones at a cheap price on Facebook.

“The father said his son had contacted the phone number displayed on the social site and after that his (boy) relationship with the girl became closer and they often contacted one another through WhatsApp and also played together in the online game, Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG).

“After a few months, the girl, who used the name Anis, allegedly started persuading the victim's son to lend her money for various reasons with promises to pay it back,” he told reporters here today.

The victim said his son started to make the money transfers to the account given by the girl in May this year, and so far, he had performed 21 transactions involving the transfer of RM295,950.

Mohd Wazir said the businessman only realised his son's actions last month and told the son to ask the girl to return the money.

However, the girl stopped responding to the boy’s whatsapp messages when he demanded for her to return the money, he said, adding that the businessman lodged a police report at the Cameron Highlands police station yesterday. - BERNAMA