KUANTAN: A bogus police officer who identifies himself as "Wong" is back in action. This time his latest victim was a 58-year-old clerk who fell victim to the Macau scam.
This comes barely a week after an individual calling himself "Tuan Wong" cheated a 32-year-old plumber of RM30,000 after tricking the victim into believing that he had outstanding credit card payments and was involved in drug activities.
In the latest incident, the victim, a female clerk from Temerloh, received a phone call on Aug 29 from an individual claiming to be a representative from Telekom Malaysia who informed her that checks revealed that she had three phone numbers which were linked with fraud activities.
The call was then connected the call to a "police officer" who identified himself as 'Sergeant Wong' from the Penang police headquarters who instructed her to transfer her savings for verification purposes.
Pahang Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Superintendent Mohd Wazir Mohd Yusof said the suspect claimed that the procedure was to allow the police to investigate if she was keeping money belonging to others.
"The suspect gave his victim two account numbers and the following day, the victim made two transactions amounting RM10,000 and RM6,000 from her account to the account numbers whch were provided.
"The suspect told the victim to remain patient while the police conduct investigations and her cash will be returned in a week. The victim waited for about a week and when the suspect did not contact her, the victim lodged a police report yesterday," he said.
Wazir said the victim was easily duped as the suspect spoke convincingly to trick her into believing that her bank account had been used for illegal activities and the victim who was in fear duly obliged to follow Wong's orders.
The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating, which provides for a maximum jail term of 10 years, whipping and a fine, if convicted.