Primary school teacher loses over RM200,000 to suspected Macau scam

IPOH: A 48-year-old primary school teacher in Teluk Intan has lost over RM200,000 in what is believed to be a Macau scam.

Hilir Perak OCPD Asst Comm Ahmad Adnan Basri said the woman received a call in early November from an insurance company stating that she had made claims involving an accident, which the victim denied.

However, the “insurance agent” then told her that he would be transferring the call to the Pudu police station so that she could cancel the claim report made.

“Then when the call was transferred to the said police station, the 'officer' connected the call to the 'court', claiming that she was involved in money laundering activities," ACP Ahmad Adnan said on Friday (Dec 31).

“The victim, after being told about her involvement in the illegal activity, got scared and took loans from two different banks, one for RM118,000 and the other amounting to RM59,000, early this month," he added.

ACP Ahmad Adnan said that after securing the loans, the victim then transferred all her money to her personal bank account as instructed by the callers, as she had been told it would be easy for the "court" to monitor her.

He added that the victim revealed all her bank details to one “Wong”, who claimed to be from a High Court.

ACP Adnan said the victim only realised that she had been cheated after the bank called to inform her that a total of RM216,000 from her account had been transferred.

“The money had been transferred into an account controlled by the scammers. She lodged a report yesterday (Dec 30) after checking her account to find all her savings, and the money from the loans, gone,” he added.

The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.

The term “Macau scam” was coined because it is believed that it originated from Macau or that the first victims came from there. This has never been confirmed.

The scam often starts with a phone call from someone pretending to be an officer from a bank, government agency or debt collector.

The scammer will then claim that the potential victim owes money or has an unpaid fine, often with a very short window of less than an hour, to settle the payment or face “dire consequences”.

These unsuspecting victims will then be asked to make payments to get them off the hook.