KUCHING: ‘Inspector Khoo’, a fake police officer, has struck again with three victims so far being cheated of their money in different districts.
In the span of a week, Police Commissioner Datuk Mohd Azman Ahmad Sapri issued three statements on incidents of phone scams in Miri (June 10), Bintulu (June 11) and Kuching (June 14).
The first two cases involved a 66-year-old retiree in Miri who lost RM1.2 million of his hard-earned savings, and a 55-year-old employee of an information technology (IT) firm in Bintulu who lost RM1.18 million of her bank savings and EPF savings.
The latest case involved a 63-year-old retired teacher who lost RM739,050 in Kuching.
Mohd Azman said they received a report from the victim for further investigation on May 6.
“According to the victim, she received a phone call from a man disguised as ‘Insp Khoo’ from the Royal Malaysia Police.
“The alleged inspector claimed that the victim was involved in money laundering.
“In addition, the suspect also claimed that Bank Negara wanted to check her savings and she needed to open a new bank account as well as transfer her money into that account for investigation purposes,” he said.
The panicky victim complied and opened two bank accounts with local financial institutions on May 12.
She then transferred a total of RM739,050 from her and husband’s bank savings into the new bank accounts.
As soon as she did that, the victim was instructed to provide all of the banking information to ‘Insp Khoo’.
“The victim only realised that she had been cheated after contacting the bank and finding out that the money had been transferred to another bank account of an unknown individual,” he said.
The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property.
Offenders can be sentenced to jail term of up to 10 years, and whipping, and are also liable to a fine upon conviction.
