KUALA LUMPUR: Police are hunting down three suspects believed to have hypnotised and cheated a retired civil servant, causing the 70-year-old woman to lose jewellery worth about RM10,000 at a shopping centre.
Ampang Jaya district police chief Asst Comm Khairul Anuar Khalid said that in the 11am incident on Friday, the victim was approached by a married couple and another woman believed to be an Indonesian who pretended to seek her assistance while at the mall in Jalan Pandan Prima near here.
“The suspects claimed they possessed a lottery ticket worth RM300,000 and sought the victim’s help to redeem it on the grounds that they did not have identification cards.
“The victim was also promised a reward.
“One of the female suspects then held the victim, causing her to feel as if she had been hypnotised, which prompted her to agree to assist them,” he stated in a report yesterday, reported Bernama.
ACP Khairul Anuar said the victim was subsequently taken in a car with the trio and while in the vehicle, one of the suspects claimed that the lottery ticket had supposedly been exchanged for a cheque for the victim to cash.
However, he said the suspects demanded a RM30,000 deposit from the victim as a guarantee that she would not abscond while cashing the cheque.
“As she did not have cash, the victim handed over a gold necklace and bracelet worth about RM10,000 as collateral to the suspects.
“The victim was then taken to the Ampang Point Maybank branch to cash the cheque but once she was dropped off from the car, all the suspects fled,” he said.
