IPOH: A teacher from Muallim district lost over RM230,000 after falling victim to scammers.
Perak police chief Comm Datuk Seri Mohd Yusri Hassan Basri said the 52-year-old victim lodged a police report on Monday (Oct 30) claiming that she was cheated by a phone scam syndicate.
“The victim received the first call on Aug 30 from a suspect who claimed to be a post office worker in Melaka.
“The first suspect said the victim had a parcel under her name containing illegal substances. After she denied that she had anything to do with the parcel, the suspect asked her to lodge a police report.
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"The call was then transferred and the victim was introduced to the second and third suspects, who claimed to be police officers.
“They told her that her bank card was found in a raid and a warrant had been issued against her. They also accused her of selling the bank card to an individual for RM20,000 and receiving a commission of RM28,0000,” Comm Mohd Yusri said in a statement on Tuesday (Oct 31).
“On Sept 1, the third suspect called and asked the victim about the amount in her bank account.
"He directed her to transfer RM49,000 from her haj savings account to a bank account under her name. On Sept 4, he called again and asked her to transfer another RM27,300 from her savings funds to the same bank account,” he added.
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Comm Mohd Yusri said on Sept 10, the victim was asked to make a personal loan of RM150,000 and later on Sept 25, told to transfer RM10,000 to an unknown bank account.
“They told her that the last transaction was for her legal fee in an upcoming trial in November.
“On Monday, she went to the bank to check her bank account and realised that a total of RM236,300 was gone and there were several transactions made without her knowledge to unknown bank accounts,” he said.
The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
He advised the public to be vigilant against phone scams.
“Don’t panic when you receive calls from unknown numbers claiming that they are from the authorities. Just end the call right away.
“No (government) agency will transfer a call to another agency. All legal matters are conducted at the agency itself and not by phone.
“Never transfer money to an unknown bank account and do not share your bank account details with unknown individuals,” he added.
