MIRI: A local clerk, who was misled into believing that she was involved in money laundering, ended up losing RM300,000 of her hard-earned savings.
The incident occurred on July 1 when the victim in her mid-50s, received a call from an individual who identified himself as ‘Goh’, purporting to be an officer from Ipoh police.
‘Goh’ alleged that the victim was involved in money laundering and that she needed to open a new bank account for purported verification purposes.
Sarawak Police Commissioner Datuk Mohd Azman Ahmad Sapri said the victim who panicked complied with the suspect’s instructions without hesitation, and went to the bank on July 4.
“She opened a fixed deposit account and proceeded to transfer funds in stages from her savings and Socso accounts into the newly opened account.
“Aside from that, ‘Goh’ instructed the woman to disclose both the front and back numbers of her account.
“Over a span of several weeks, the victim transferred her hard-earned savings of RM300,000 via seven transactions into the new bank account,” he said.
Months later, the devastating truth came to light when the victim went to check on her savings’ status at the bank.
Mohd Azman said the woman discovered that a total of 20 transactions, amounting to RM300,000, had been transferred out from her account into four distinct third-party accounts.
The victim reported the incident to the police on Friday (Sept 29) and the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating and dishonestly inducing the delivery of property.
In view of this, he urged the public not to entertain unknown phone calls and immediately notify their partners, friends, or family members should they receive such phone calls.
