Retiree loses RM3.839mil in phone scam

SHAH ALAM: A retired private sector employee in Subang Jaya suffered a loss of RM3.839mil after falling victim to a ‘phone scam’.

Selangor Police chief Datuk Hussein Omar Khan said the 70-year-old woman received a phone call from an individual in November 2022 claiming to be an insurance officer, who said there had been an insurance claim using her name.

“The complainant denied that she had made the insurance claim. The call was then connected to the ‘police’ who said the complainant was listed as being involved in a money laundering case and that she could be arrested,” he said in a statement on Thursday (Sept 14).

He said the woman was then duped into opening a new account for investigation purposes, and in a panic, she transferred RM3.839mil into the account.

She was also told to hand over the bank account details to facilitate the investigation and not to access the account for a few months.

“Yesterday, the complainant went to the bank to check on the account and found that it only had a balance of RM79.59, and realised that she had been a victim of fraud,” he said.

Hussein reminded the public not to entertain such calls from unknown individuals, stressing that the police would never conduct any investigations over the phone, nor would they instruct anyone to transfer their money to any account for investigation purposes. – Bernama