KUANTAN: A 50-year-old nurse took a personal loan and pawned her jewelry after falling prey to an online scam syndicate impersonating as a National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) officer.
The victim from Jerantut panicked after being informed that her identification details had been linked with money-laundering activities and "deposited' RM105,000 hoping to clear her name.
Pahang police chief Datuk Seri Yahaya Othman said the incident unfolded after the victim received a call from an individual claiming to be an NSRC official on Nov 26 last year.
"The caller informed the victim that the centre found her name to be involved in money laundering activities. The call was transferred to another individual who claimed to be a police officer and urged the victim to provide full cooperation during investigations.
"She was instructed to transfer cash into different bank accounts for investigation purposes. The victim applied for a bank loan and pawned her jewellery before making 10 transactions amounting to RM105,000 into four separate bank accounts this month," he said in a statement.
Yahaya said the victim was told to wait several days for the investigations to be completed and she lodged a police report yesterday after receiving no updates from the 'NSRC officers'.
Meanwhile, in a separate incident, a 55-year-old retiree from Kuala Lipis lost RM260,388 of his hard-earned savings after participating in a fraud online investment scheme.
Yahaya said the victim was coaxed into joining the alleged Shariah-compliant investment scheme in early December last year with promises of huge returns.
"He trusted the scheme after receiving RM110 profit from the first RM500 investment which he made in the scheme. The victim was told to register with an online portal to monitor his shares.
"Since Dec 17, the victim has been instructed to make various payments to open an account to allow him to receive profits and make tax payments. He transferred RM260,388 on 14 occasions into five separate bank accounts," he said, adding the victim lodged a police report yesterday.
Yahaya advised the public to be alert when receiving telephone calls from unknown individuals and immediately refer the matter to the authorities or financial institutions.
He said individuals who receive such calls should verify account and phone numbers at the official portal (https://semakmule.rmp.gov.my) to mitigate the risk of falling victim to scams.
"Do not panic upon receiving phone calls from unknown individuals or be misled by calls from any person claiming to be an NSRC officer. The NSRC will not call anyone," he said.
Last month, Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said scammers have conned Malaysians of nearly RM720 million by impersonating as officers from the NSRC last year.