60yo M’sian Loses RM1.3 Million After Scammer Says Her Credit Card Was Used To Buy Bitcoins

A 60-year-old woman lost RM1.3 million after being tricked into providing information on seven of her bank accounts to a scammer pretending to be a bank officer.

According to BERNAMA, the incident, also known as a Macau Scam, happened early last month.

Petaling Jaya District police chief ACP Mohamad Fakhrudin Abdul Hamid said that woman, who is a pensioner of a private company, received a call from an individual who claimed to be a bank officer and a representative from Bank Negara.

She was then told that her credit card had been used to buy bitcoins on a social website.

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The woman said she did not perform such transactions and proceeded to give her personal details to the caller to help her lodge a police report.

“The victim received a copy of the police report at 9.02am on the next day via the WhatsApp application and was asked to provide the details of all of her bank accounts for renewal purposes,” Mohamad Fakhrudin said.

“On 10 May, the victim made an inquiry with Bank Negara and was informed that the call she received was fake.”

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After the case was investigated, it was discovered that the woman had given information on seven of her bank accounts to the caller.

Mohamad Fakhrudin added that the Macau Scam syndicate would often target senior citizens who are easy victim’s because they tend to lack knowledge and exposure to cybercrime in this day and age.

Make sure you teach your parents, grandparents, uncles and aunties how to detect a scam by looking out for the signs! 

Also read: M’sian Loses Over RM255K After Being Tricked Into Making 52 Transfers To 8 Accounts