57-year-old woman loses RM382,000 to scammers

IPOH: A 57-year-old project manager has been cheated of almost RM382,000 in a phone scam in Taiping.

Perak police chief Datuk Seri Comm Mohd Yusri Hassan Basri said the woman realised that funds had been transferred out of her bank account to 11 other different accounts.

“The transactions were made without her knowledge as it was under the control of the scammers.

“The 18 transactions, totalling to RM381,950, were made between Aug 18 and Sept 6,” he said in a statement on Monday (Sept 11).

“The victim was also about to transfer another RM100,000 to two different bank accounts when she found out about the transactions.

“The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating,” he said, adding that the victim lodged a police report on Sunday (Sept 10).

Comm Mohd Yusri said the woman received a call from an unknown individual at 1.30pm on Aug 18, claiming to be from a shipping company based in Alor Setar, Kedah.

He said the suspect told the victim that she had a parcel containing 100 pieces of counterfeit notes, credit cards, MyKads and automated teller machine cards, from an unknown sender based in Kuching, Sarawak

“She was then connected to several ‘police officers’, including one who claimed to be a ‘Datuk’, who said she was involved in the sales of private bank accounts,” he said.

“In a panic, the victim gave away her personal and banking details, including passwords and PIN numbers for the fake investigation.

“She also gave copies of her salary slips, Internal Revenue Board statements, car grant, picture of her car, land grant, picture of her house and photographs of her jewellery to the scammers,” he added.

Comm Mohd Yusri reminded the people not to panic when receiving such calls from unknown individuals claiming to be from enforcement agencies.

“Enforcement agencies will not connect phone calls to other enforcement agencies.

“Government matters will not be conducted over phone calls,” he said, adding that the police will not call up people and threaten to arrest them.

“Never transfer money to bank accounts of unknown individuals nor divulge personal details to them.

“Do not ever download any apps or click on links from suspicious or unknown sources,” he added.