KUALA TERENGGANU: A 73-year-old retiree lost RM431,742 after falling victim to a phone scam syndicate.
Kuala Terengganu OCPD Asst Comm Azli Mohd Noor said that the victim received a call on June 24 from a suspect claiming to be an insurance company representative.
He said that the suspect claimed that the victim had made a false health insurance claim and was due to face legal action.
"The visually impaired victim denied the accusation and the call was transferred to another suspect posing as a police officer.
"Apart from the false insurance claim, the victim was also alleged to be involved in money laundering activities.
"The suspect instructed the victim to open a new bank account for investigation purposes and was told not to use the bank account,” he said in a statement on Sunday (Oct 5).
ACP Azli said the victim, fearing he could be jailed, transferred all the money from his and his wife's savings accounts into the new bank account.
On Sept 25, the victim mentioned the incident to his son, who immediately checked the new account.
"He found that a total of RM431,742 had been transferred in stages from July 6 to Aug 14 from that new account to an unidentified account.
"The victim, who lost all his savings, lodged a police report on Saturday (Oct 4),” he said.
The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property). — Bernama
