KUANTAN: An alleged phone call from ‘Bank Negara’ yesterday led to a senior citizen, who has never applied for a credit card and is without any outstanding loans, losing RM29,950.
The scammers instructed the 66-year-old clinic assistant to immediately transfer her savings into another bank account provided by the suspects so that she would not land in trouble.
Pahang Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Superintendent Mohd Wazir Mohd Yusof said the victim received a call from an individual who identified himself as Teoh, an officer from Bank Negara, at about 4pm.
The victim was told that her bank account had been placed under observation after she applied for a credit card and had a RM9,000 outstanding balance.
"The victim denied she had applied for any credit card or owed the bank any money. The caller then informed her that records showed RM4,500 had been spent for an online purchase.
"The call was then connected to a Bank Negara officer identified as James Ong before she spoke to two other ‘officers’. Since her bank account was being monitored, she was told to immediately go to the bank to transfer her savings into another bank account," Wazir said today.
He said the victim realised that she had been cheated after transferring RM29,950 into the suspect's account and later lodged a police report.
Wazir said investigations revealed the suspects had persistently tried to convince the victim to surrender her money and even transferred the calls on several occasions to convince the victim that it was a genuine incident.
In a separate case, a housewife in her 40s was duped into parting with RM5,500 by a parcel scam syndicate after she was promised luxury gifts on Feb 5 by a Facebook friend known as "Berry Richard".
Wazir said Berry Richard, who considered the victim as his step sibling, had promised to send US$3,000, a watch, a perfume set, handbags, jewellery, shoes and two handphones.
"On Feb 19, the victim received a text message from a courier company representative asking her to make several payments before the items could be delivered. Eager to receive the gifts, she deposited RM5,000 followed by another RM500.
"Some time later, the courier company representative called her saying that since the parcels contain cash, she was required to submit an anti-terrorist certificate as proof. If she did not have the certificate, she would be required to pay RM7,500 to allow them to process the document and release the items," he said.
Wazir said the victim realised something amiss as the company demanded more money and lodged a police report yesterday.
He said both cases are 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.