According to a report by Sinar Harian, an elderly woman has lost RM3.83 million from her savings after being duped by a ‘phone scam’ syndicate posing as a police officer.
Selangor Police Chief Datuk Hussein Omar Khan said the 70-year-old woman had received a phone call from a suspect claiming to be an insurance agent around November 2022.
According to him, the suspect stated that an insurance claim was made using the victim’s name, but the victim denied it.
“The call was then connected to the ‘police,’ and the individual claimed that the victim was involved in money laundering activities. Afraid of being caught by the authorities, the victim only obeyed whatever instructions were given by the syndicate members involved.”
He said the suspect convinced the victim to open a new bank account and register a phone number linked to online banking before being asked to hand over the account number, supposedly for investigation purposes.
He said the victim was instructed to transfer all her money into the account in question and could not access the account for several months.
“The victim was also instructed to delete all the transaction receipts of money entering the account,” he explained.
He added that the victim only realised that she had been cheated after finding that her bank account only had RM79.59 left.
“The victim lost RM3.83 million of retirement funds, fixed deposits, trust accounts, and gold she had pawned which were all transferred to the new account involved,” he said.
Hussein reminded the public that no phone calls from one company, agency or government department can be transferred from one party to another and the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code.
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Also read: M’sian Student Duped After Trying to Convert eBeliaRahmah Credit to Cash, PDRM Tracing the Scammer
