Macau scammers swindle retiree of RM373,000

KANGAR: A 61-year-old pensioner lost RM373,000 to a Macau scam syndicate that had been harrying her since November last year.

Perlis Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) chief Supt Wan Aedil Wan Abdullah said the woman reported having received a telephone call from a person posing as an insurance company representative about her “claim” for medical treatment after a road accident.

“The pensioner said the call was then transferred to one Puan Yong, supposedly an investigating officer at the Kuala Lumpur CCID, who accused her of being involved in money laundering,” he said in a statement yesterday, according to Bernama.

Supt Wan Aedil said the scammers instructed the victim to deposit all her savings into a bank account and register the caller’s telephone number to the account.

She was also told to transfer the money and provide details of the account to the scammers, he said, adding that online transactions were made subsequently without her knowledge.

“The retiree only became aware of the case after finding out that the balance in the account had dwindled to RM124.20,” he said.

The victim lodged a police report on Wednesday.

It was learnt that the two telephone numbers used had shown up in 25 scam cases in the country, he added.

Supt Wan Aedil advised the public not to panic easily and fall for such scams but to conduct checks first.