Senior citizen duped in lottery scam

PONTIAN: A senior citizen who went to pay some bills at the post office here got duped out of her life savings of more than RM70,000 in a fake lottery scam.

It is learnt that the woman, in her 60s, was talking to another person when an Indonesian man approached them and said he had a winning lottery ticket worth RM1mil.

The foreigner claimed he was unable to cash it as he was not a local with an identity card.

Sources said the foreigner also claimed that he needed to open a new bank account with Bank Negara and show a deposit of RM80,000 in order to redeem the money.

Initially, the woman was not convinced but she decided to help as the foreigner had offered to give her RM50,000 as a token.

He also assured her that all the bank accounts would be opened in her name and the deposit would be safe.

“The suspect, along with another person, then brought the woman to two banks to withdraw almost RM70,000.

“However, when the woman went to photocopy her identity card, the suspects fled with the money,” the sources said, adding that a report was lodged.

In an unrelated case, a 60-year-old man lost almost RM20,000 to a scammer who called him to say his son had been arrested in a drug bust.

The victim, who was at his workplace, received a call from a “policeman” from Negri Sembilan claiming that his son had been arrested with three of his friends.

“The man did not believe him at first but panicked when he was unable to reach his son on his phone,” sources said, adding that the caller demanded RM30,000 to settle the case.

It is learnt that the father transferred nearly RM20,000 to an account number.

About 30 minutes later, the father managed to contact his son who told him that he was in class and unable to answer his call.

A police official said both cases were being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.

Those with information should contact the police hotline at 07-221 2999.