Retiree duped of almost RM500,000 by scammer

JOHOR BARU: A retiree lost close to half a million ringgit after falling prey to a Macau scam last year.

Johor Commercial Crime Investigation Dept chief Asst Comm Amran Md Jusin said the 58-year-old received a call in July from an unknown number and the caller introduced herself as an insurance agent.

“The suspect told her that her personal information had been used for an insurance claim involving an accident. The victim was then connected to a certain ‘Sarjan Azman’.

“She was told by him that she was involved in money laundering and drug smuggling activities and that an arrest warrant had been issued by the police,” he said in a statement on Tuesday (Jan 18).

ACP Amran added that "Sarjan Azman" then pretended to offer the victim some help and instructed her to open a new bank account.

“He told her to give him all the details and access to the new account. He also told the victim to register a phone number he provided for the transaction authorisation code (TAC).

“He then instructed her to transfer all the money in her other bank accounts into the new account, claiming it was all part of the investigation.

“She was also not allowed to check the balance in the account and warned against telling anyone about this because he said it could disrupt the investigation,” he said.

This month, the victim finally broke her silence and told her husband about the incident when she realised that she has been scammed.

“The realisation came after she checked the bank account and found that RM484,305 had gone missing without her knowledge,” said ACP Amran.

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

“We would like to remind the public not to panic when they receive such calls from unknown numbers. Be calm and take some time to verify the information given by the unknown individual.

“The public is also advised to use the services provided by the police such as Semak Mule, CCID Scam Response Centre, CCID Infoline and the police Commercial Crime Facebook page for information related to such crimes,” he said.