KEPALA BATAS: A senior citizen is RM255,000 poorer after she fell victim to a phone scam syndicate here, yesterday.
Seberang Prai Utara district police chief Assistant Commissioner Noorzainy Mohd Noor said the 76-year-old housewife’s ordeal started when she received a call from a woman who introduced herself as a police officer.
The woman falsely claimed that the victim was involved in illegal money laundering activity.
When the victim denied it, the call was transferred, supposedly to a police officer at Bukit Aman, who told the victim she needed to transfer money for investigation purposes, or risk arrest.
The terrified victim complied and carried out 11 transactions totalling RM255,000, banked in to nine different accounts, between Feb 13 and Feb 21.
“The victim only realised she had been duped when the bank became suspicious of the large amounts of money transacted from her account.
“Upon questioning (by the bank), it was found that the victim had been cheated by scammers,” Noorzainy said today.
He added that the victim lodged a police report and that the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.