Bukit Aman commercial crime investigation department (CCID) director Ramli Yoosuf said the 52-year-old victim had joined an online stock market-related class that promised to show how to get lucrative returns from investments.

He said the victim was told to venture into cryptocurrency investment using the “Yoamex” platform and opened an account in July to invest RM7.1 million.

Ramli said the investment website showed the victim’s account generating a “profit” of up to US$13.7 million (RM65.58 million).

“However, the victim was informed the investment could not be withdrawn because there was an ongoing investigation for money laundering. Instead, he was asked to pay up another 5%,” Ramli said.

Such scams involving cryptocurrency have been reported frequently.

Recently, a 75-year-old military retiree reported to police he had lost RM2.75 million after responding to a cryptocurrency ad on Facebook in May.

In another case, a 19-year-old entrepreneur lost RM1.43 million in an investment advertised through Instagram on Oct 17.