Actress-Singer Winnie Kok Duped Of RM380,000 By A Longtime Friend & Fake Datuk

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Malaysian singer Winnie Kok, better known as Winnie K, has revealed she was tricked by a longtime friend and a fake Datuk

The veteran artiste, who sings in both Mandarin and Malay, revealed that she lost RM380,000 after being deceived by a woman she had considered her close friend for nearly a decade, and a man posing as a Datuk businessman.

At a press conference earlier this week, Kok recounted how she was drawn into a scam that preyed not only on her trust but also on goodwill.

She said the ordeal began in September 2023, when her friend — a television host she had known for at least nine years — introduced her to a man claiming to be a Datuk involved in a high-end real estate project.

According to her, the man said he was looking for a Malaysian celebrity to be the exclusive ambassador for the project and was willing to pay between RM800,000 and RM1 million for a one-year contract.

"He told me he had also signed a TVB artiste from Hong Kong for another project, so he wanted a Malaysian face for this one," Kok was quoted as saying by China Press.

According to her, the offer seemed legitimate as her friend had vouched for the man, and both showed her videos of a construction site and photos of a showroom

"I trusted my friend completely. We've known each other for years. We've been through so much in this industry together. So I didn't doubt her or him," she said.

According to the New Straits Times, over several meetings, the businessman convinced Kok to sign on as the project's ambassador.

Things took a turn, however, when he claimed that his funds were stuck in a China-based electronic account and that he needed Winnie to temporarily advance RM380,000 for operational expenses.

He promised to return the money within two days, assuring the Potret Mistik actress that the full endorsement payment would follow immediately after.

According to her, the money wasn't "spare cash".

"It was my emergency savings, something I'd slowly built up over the years for my mother's medical needs," she said, adding, "But I believed him. I thought this was just a technical issue, and that I'd get it back in a couple of days."

Within two weeks, she transferred the amount in several transactions. Once the payments were made, the man disappeared, and her messages and calls went unanswered.

Her friend, too, began avoiding her.

"It was only later that I found out his Datuk title was fake, and he was actually a bankrupt individual," she said.

Kok filed a police report in October 2023, but she said the emotional damage has been harder to recover from than the financial loss

"This wasn't just about money. It was someone I trusted completely, someone I treated like a sister. The betrayal cuts deep," she said.

She added that the ordeal left her mentally and emotionally drained for months. It took her a long time to come forward publicly, but she finally decided to share her story to warn others, especially women and fellow artistes, about the danger of falling for such elaborate scams.

"I'm speaking out because I don't want anyone else to go through what I did. No matter how close someone seems or how convincing an opportunity looks, always double-check. Don't let your heart decide when money is involved."