KUANTAN: A 60-year-old lecturer who fell prey to a Macau scam syndicate is now RM132,000 poorer.
Pahang commercial crime investigation department chief Superintendent Mohd Wazir Mohd Yusof said the female victim had received a phone call from a woman who identified herself as a legal officer from the Melaka magistrate’s court.
He said the victim was told that she had an outstanding balance of RM13,580 on her credit card .
When she denied this, the call was transferred to a “police inspector from the Melaka police headquarters” who told her that her bank account was involved in money laundering activities and drug related offence.
Panicking, the victim decided to follow his instructions and transferred RM132,000 into four bank accounts.
Wazir said the “policeman” had convinced the victim that the instruction to transfer the cash was to verify the cash flow into her bank account.
He said after transferring the money the victim was unable to contact the policeman and finally realised she had been duped.
In a separate case, Wazir said a beauty centre owner lost RM31,090 in a loan scheme scam last month.
He said the 34-year-old victim had spotted a loan advertisement on Facebook on April 26 and decided to apply for a RM100,000 loan.
“She sent her contact details and the bogus loan syndicate members instructed her to make various payments, including cash management, opening current account, stamp duty and late payment penalty.
“She then made five transactions totalling RM31,090 to various accounts.” he said.
When the suspects demanded another RM5,000 as payment for Bank Negara officers, the victim suspected something was amiss and lodged a report at the district police station.”
Wazir said both cases were being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating, which provides for a maximum jail term of 10 years and whipping, and a fine if convicted.