Teacher who took loan to pay scammers loses RM276k

SEREMBAN: A 41-year-old teacher lost RM276,000 in a Macau scam here after she was fooled into believing that she was involved in a cheating case.

State Commercial Crime Investigation Department head Supt Aibee Ab Ghani said the victim’s troubles started on April 6 when she received a call from an individual claiming to be from the Health Ministry in Putrajaya.

“The individual first accused the victim of buying medicine in excessive quantities from a government clinic in Ipoh from March 1 to 28.

“The call was then apparently transferred to the Perak police contingent to allow the victim to lodge a report,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Supt Aibee said a “policeman” then told the victim that she was involved in a cheating case with one “Tan Boon Huat”, who has since been imprisoned.

The so-called cop told the victim that when police conducted a raid at Tan’s house, they also found a debit card belonging to the victim.

“He then accused the victim of accepting RM273,000 from Tan but told her to keep this confidential or else she would be arrested.

“The call was then transferred to an inspector who then asked the victim about her savings and bank accounts,” he said.

The victim was then told to transfer cash into several accounts to allow the police and auditors to probe the case.

Supt Aibee said the victim then began transferring money into the accounts from April 11 to April 29.

She also took bank loans totalling RM131,000 and even borrowed RM90,000 from a friend.

The victim only realised that she had been scammed on April 29 when she was unable to contact the “inspector” despite repeated attempts.

Supt Aibee said that the case is being probed under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating, an offence that carries a jail term of between one and 10 years, whipping and a fine, upon conviction.