JOHOR BARU: A teacher who received a call while in school panicked when the caller, who identified himself as a “cybersecurity officer”, alleged that she was in trouble for being involved in drug and money-laundering activities involving a total of RM250,000.
The teacher, in her 50s, was then constantly harassed by calls from men who claimed to be policemen and even a lawyer for over a month before she caved in to pressure and handed them RM120,000.
Sources said the teacher’s nightmare began when she got a call from a “Putrajaya-based cybersecurity officer” who accused her of being involved in a drug syndicate.
“He threatened to arrest the teacher, who has a long service award,” sources said, adding that the first call came at the end of May.
It is learnt that later on, she was harassed for almost a month by several callers posing as policemen from Penang and lawyers telling her that they could help her if she gave a large sum of money as surety.
She was also asked to fill out her personal and bank details via a link provided online.
The teacher, who did not inform anyone about her predicament, proceeded to seek a personal loan totalling almost RM130,000.
“The loan was approved within a few days. On the same day, the money was deposited into her account, the money was illegally withdrawn by criminals who used her personal information,” said the sources.
The teacher initially did not lodge a police report but only did so several days ago in Kluang as she received similar threatening calls again.
In another case, a female administration officer in her 50s lost her savings of almost RM100,000 in a love scam.
Sources said the issue started when the woman accepted a friend request from a man on social media last month.
After a few days of chatting online, the man said he wanted to send her a bag of gold and cash as a gift.
“The woman then received a call at the end of July from someone who claimed to be from a courier company saying that her parcel had arrived, but the company needed her to pay fees for Customs clearance.
“Over the next three weeks, the woman made more than 30 transactions to try to clear the items,” the sources said, adding that the woman only realised that she was duped after she had exhausted all her funds.
She then lodged a police report in Muar.
A police official said both cases were being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
Meanwhile, police busted a loan shark gang with the arrest of eight men at a house in Seri Alam on Tuesday.
OCPD Supt Sohaimi Ishak said that the men, in their 20s and 40s, have since been remanded.
“We seized several items from the suspects including a laptop and mobile phones that were used to put up loan advertisements on social media,” he said.
All the suspects have records for illegal moneylending activities, gambling and drug abuse.
