SIBU: A teacher lost RM112,000 after falling prey to a phone scam last month.
It all started in June when the teacher who is in her late 20s, received a call from ‘John Jonathan’ claiming to be from PosLaju Kuala Lumpur while she was at work.
Sarawak Police Commissioner Datuk Mohd Azman Ahmad Sapri said she was informed that there were unclaimed items in John’s possession that needed to be sent to Miri.
The contents of the package were said to include her identity card and Maybank credit card, however, the teacher denied any knowledge of such items and pointed out that she had not arranged for any deliveries to Miri.
“However, rather than clarifying the matter, the suspect instructed the victim to file a complaint with the police.
“She was then connected to a person claiming to be a Sergeant from the Perlis police headquarters and Insp Syafiq, who supposedly needed to verify the situation with the Bukit Aman police headquarters.
“During this call, the victim was shocked to find that her name had been linked to money laundering activities,” he said.
In a state of panic and fear, she followed all the instructions given to her by the suspects, who explicitly warned her against alerting anyone.
As part of their elaborate ruse, she was instructed to secure a loan from a bank and she successfully obtained a loan amounting to RM125,000 in the middle of June.
Mohd Azman added that with the money in hand, the victim was directed to download an application from Bank Negara Malaysia, using a specific link provided by the suspect.
The victim complied and proceeded to fill in her personal and banking information.
“The suspect justified the need for this information by claiming it was required to check the status of the victim’s account, particularly whether it had been involved in any criminal activities.
“Four days later, the victim received another demand, this time instructing her to transfer RM3,000 to an alleged auditor named Muhammad Izzat Danial.
“The funds were allegedly meant to cover account security expenses and the sum was deposited into a bank account provided by the suspect,” he said.
Soon after making the transfer, the victim checked her bank account balance and found a staggering sum of RM112,000 had been transferred to an unknown individual’s bank account.
Realisation hit her when she attempted to contact Insp Syafiq, only to find that the line had been blocked.
The teacher then came forward and lodged a police report.
