KUALA LUMPUR: A former banker lost nearly RM4mil to scammers who claimed she had unauthorised insurance claims made under her name – but the good news is that her case led to a breakthrough in investigations and nine people were arrested.
The suspects have been linked to 61 cases involving RM28.92mil in losses.
According to Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf, police received a report from a 70-year-old retired banker who claimed to have lost RM3.84mil in a scam.
“She lodged a report that she had received a call from a person claiming to be from an insurance company in November 2022.
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“They informed her that they had detected insurance claims made under her name, but she denied it and was connected to another person who claimed to be with the police,” he said.
He added that the victim was later instructed to open another bank account and hand over control of it to the person she was talking to.
Ramli said the victim was not allowed to access the account or update it, but in September last year, she decided to check it and found that her RM3,839,000 had been withdrawn from the account.
“We opened fraud investigations before conducting an operation in Kuala Lumpur on Feb 13 where we arrested six men and three women aged between 28 and 42.
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“Based on our checks, these individuals played roles in this case as mule account and mule company providers,” he said, adding that police also seized 11 mobile phones, nine ATM cards, a passport and RM377 in cash.
He said based on their investigations, 61 cases were linked to these individuals, involving RM28.92mil.
Meanwhile, in another case, Comm Ramli said an accountant lost RM5.04mil over a bogus cryptocurrency investment scheme.
“We received a report on Feb 7 from the 55-year-old complainant who claimed he took part in a foreign investment scheme.
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“Based on our investigations, the complainant had in August 2023 made dealings with an individual online to invest in a cryptocurrency scheme based in the United States,” he told reporters yesterday.
He said further checks revealed that the victim made 143 transactions between August last year and January this year to several cryptocurrency wallets involving RM5.04mil.
“The man felt he had been cheated when he could no longer get in touch with the individual who was managing his investments,” he said.
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