KUALA TERENGGANU, MALAYSIA: Blinded by love, two women and a man have lost a total of RM27,611 ($11,600) to online "friends" since August.

In the first case, a 29-year-old doctor from Jertih told police that she was cheated by a man who claimed to be London-based pilot whom she met online in August.

Weeks later, she received a call from the 32-year-old "boyfriend" going by the name of Lutz Koerner, telling her that he had mailed her a handbag and RM300,000 ($126,000) in cash.

On Sept 14, she received a call from a "courier company" in Kuala Lumpur informing her that her parcel from London had arrived, and that she had to pay RM4,700 to claim it.

She banked the amount into a stranger's account on the company's instructions.

State Commercial Crimes Department acting chief Deputy Superintendent Ab Rahim Ab Razak said the company called her again on Sept 16 for another RM14,000 and she gave the money without hesitation.

She only suspected something was wrong when she did not receive any parcel and at the same time, could not contact her "boyfriend".

The second victim, a 42-year-old housewife from Chendering, lost money after a "courier company" told her to pay RM3,460 in service charges and Customs tax for a parcel sent to her by her Internet "friend" named William Johnson from London.

She had been told by her friend that the parcel contained a laptop, a gold watch, a cellphone and RM27,000 in cash.

Two days after banking in the amount, the company called and asked for another RM5,295.

When she told them that she had no more money, the company replied that they could not deliver the parcel.

Rahim said the woman became suspicious when her "friend" did not answer her calls. She lodged a report on Sept 28.

The third victim is a self-employed 43-year-old father of two from Durian Burung here.

He lodged a report at the Cabang Tiga police station on Tuesday, saying he had lost RM5,451 after a "courier company" failed to send him a parcel from his Internet "girlfriend" in Britain.

The parcel was supposed to contain a laptop and RM60,000 in cash.

Rahim also showed a snapshot that the man received through the Internet from his "girlfriend", known as Aisyah Mokhtar.

Rahim said the man had paid a first service charge of RM3,450.98 to the "courier company" based in Kota Kinabalu for the parcel on Sept 25.

He received another call from the company on Oct 4 asking for a final payment of RM5,239, but he only deposited RM2,000 at a bank here.

The company said he had to wait three weeks for delivery.

He became suspicious when his lover did not answer his calls.