KUANTAN: A teacher is now burdened with debt amounting to thousands of ringgit after taking a personal loan due to falling prey to a phone scam last month.
The 34-year-old victim was deceived into 'gifting' RM362,399 to members of a scam syndicate who claimed the cash would be transferred to a third party for investigation purposes.
Pahang police chief Datuk Seri Yahaya Othman said the victim from Cameron Highlands received a phone call from an individual, posing as a PosLaju employee last month.
"The caller was informed that there was a parcel registered under the victim's name and checks revealed that it contained a MyKad, credit cards and a bank cheque bank. The caller was told that the case will be handled by the 'police'.
"The call was transferred to the Penang police headquarters and Bukit Aman. The victim was informed that she was now a suspect for money laundering and drug smuggling activities.
"However, the 'police officer' assured that the department will assist with her appeal and instructed her to transfer all her savings into another bank account. The victim was also told to secure a bank loan and provide the online banking information to the 'officer in charge'," he said in a statement.
Yahaya said the 'officer" had duped the victim saying that the payments which she made in stages were part of the appeal procedures which included court, audit and Bank Negara Malaysia fees.
He said the victim had surrendered a total of RM362,339 including the bank loan and her savings to the suspect before realising she had been cheated after she could no longer contact the 'officer'.
Yahaya said the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating and advised members of the public to immediately conduct checks at https://semakmule.rmp.gov.my before carrying out any transaction.