BALIK PULAU: A retiree lost RM1.84 million of her life savings and money she borrowed from her siblings in a Macau Scam syndicate recently.
The 76-year-old's ordeal started on June 5 when she received a call from a man, who identified himself as Adam Wong, supposedly from the customer service of the Pos Laju headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.
Wong told the victim that there was a package sent by her to one Tony Liew in Kota Kinabalu on May 18 which contained a blue identity card and eight ATM cards after the package was scanned by Pos Laju Kita Kinabalu.
The victim denied the matter and said she did not know Liew.
Wong then advised the victim to lodge a police report at the Sabah contingent police headquarters, and would assist the victim to do so.
Southwest district police chief Superintendent A.A. Anbalagan said the victim then received a call from a number, +870888454700, where she spoke with three "police officers", who told her she was involved in a money laundering syndicate amounting to RM1.48 million.
The victim was also told that there was a bank account opened by her in Kota Kinabalu.
"The victim was then asked to report and update her status every two hours to the police officers and was told not to tell anyone about the matter. Scared, the victim just followed all of the police officers' instructions.
"She was then asked on the amount of money she has in her bank accounts because the police would investigate the matter and Bank Negara would freeze the accounts. She was subsequently asked to transfer all her money into one single bank account.
"She then withdrew her savings from her Tabung Haji account (including the inheritance left behind by her late mother for her), savings from her ASB account and share savings money," he said today.
Beginning June 23, Anbalagan said, the victim deposited a cheque amounting to RM790,000 into an enterprise account.
On June 29, she again deposited two cheques into a construction company account totalling RM300,000.00 and RM350,000.00.
She was also told by one Assistant Superintendent Nordin that she needed to pay a RM1 million bond, failing which, she would be arrested and remanded.
Anbalagan said on July 13, the victim deposited a RM200,000 cheque to an enterprise account and another RM200,000 cheque into the same account nine days later.
"Both cheques were proceeds from sales of her jewellery, amounting to RM20,000, and the remaining loans from her siblings.
"Altogether, five transactions were made through cheque deposits.
"When she finished paying half of the bond money, Nordin told her the court needed the remaining RM500,000 within a week.
"At her wit's end as she had no more money left, she asked for help from her child in Kuala Lumpur. Her child was surprised, knowing the victim had money. She then related what happened to her child, who advised her to lodge a police report, suspecting that she had been conned off RM1.84 million," he added.
Anbalagan said the victim lodged a report at the Bayan Baru police station on Tuesday.
The case is investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
"Our advice is for the people not to deal with unknown individuals through phone calls, and not to easily fall for various tricks used by scam syndicates," Anbalagan said.