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Busy day as scammers con victims of over RM370k

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KUCHING: Two cases of Macau phone scam involving losses in excess of RM377,000 were reported in Kuching and Mukah districts on March 2 and 3 respectively.

Sarawak Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) chief Supt Maria Rasid said the first case involved a 36-year-old woman, who is a civil servant.

“According to her, she received a phone call on Jan 22 saying that there was a company in Kuantan, Pahang registered under her name, and had 15 months of tax arrears.

“This was followed by another phone call from a man who introduced himself as a senior police officer from Pahang who said the victim had a criminal record related to money laundering and drug trafficking.

“She was then connected to a man who also introduced himself as a police officer. The man said there was money amounting to RM228,000 in the victim’s account and instructed the victim to declare it with Bank Negara Malaysia,” Supt Maria said in a statement today.

“She followed the man’s instructions by giving her bank details, identity card number, ATM card number, ATM pin and online banking ID as well as her online banking password,” Supt Maria said her statement.

The woman was then instructed to transfer RM26,000 from her Maybank account to the victim’s own CIMB Bank account, supposedly to protect her money.

“The suspect then asked the woman to make a personal loan of RM200,000 from a bank. After the personal loan was approved on Feb 19, the victim was instructed by the suspect to deposit RM189,684 into her own CIMB Bank account.

“The victim only realised she had been cheated after checking the account balance and found that the money she had previously transferred had disappeared from her account. The total loss amounted to RM241,556.”

In the second case, Supt Maria said it involved a 57-year-old man, also a civil servant.

On Feb 6, the man received a phone call from an indivudual who introduced himself as a police officer who claimed that the victim was involved in a money laundering case involving RM2.8 million while also saying that the victim’s name was used to open a bank account which was used by 17 suspects to launder money.

“The ‘police officer’ also claimed that an arrest warrant had been issued by the Ipoh High Court. The victim was instructed to report daily through WhatsApp by sending a picture of the victim to him.

“Then, the ‘police officer’ said he could help solve the case provided the victim pay a sum of money to a given account. He was also instructed to keep this a secret.

“The victim made six fund transfers through ATM machines and online for a total of RM136,000 to five bank accounts in the name of an unknown individual between Feb 8 and 25.”

After the funds were transferred, Supt Maria said the suspect still contacted the civil servant instructing him to transfer RM71,000 to prevent him from appearing in court.

“The victim only realised that he had been deceived after sharing the matter with his family members. He then lodged a report at Mukah Police Station.”

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