KUANTAN: Two women lost RM1.4mil after being duped by a phone scam syndicate from September 2024 to April 2026.
Pahang police chief Comm Datuk Seri Yahaya Othman said the first case involved a 60-year-old local woman who is a retired teacher in Kuantan.
He said the victim received a phone call on Sept 6, 2024, from an individual posing as a police officer and informing her that she was allegedly involved in a money laundering case and the sale of ATM cards to criminals.
"To deceive the victim, the suspect ordered the woman to make an affidavit and police report via phone call and recorded the victim's voice as a confession. The victim was then threatened with two choices - either to be arrested and remanded or to hand over all her property," he said in a statement Tuesday (April 28).
He said the victim had made 122 money transfer transactions worth RM1.014mil to several bank accounts during the period of Sept 6, 2024 to April 5 this year, in addition to being ordered to report six times a day every three hours and prohibited from informing any party about the matter.
"The losses involved personal savings, EPF savings, house sale proceeds, retirement funds, personal loans, jewelry mortgages as well as other investments and savings belonging to the victim," he said.
In the second case, Yahaya said a 42-year-old teacher in Raub suffered a loss of RM431,000 after being deceived by a syndicate posing as an officer of a takaful insurance company and a police officer on Feb 2.
He said the victim was allegedly informed that she was involved in a case of fake insurance claims totaling RM68,000 in addition to money laundering and corruption.
"The victim was instructed to declare her bank accounts and change her phone number for internet banking purposes before making several money transfer transactions to bank accounts under the suspect's control. The transactions were supposedly for case management and court bail payment purposes," he said.
In this regard, Yahaya advised the public to immediately check with the police or relevant government agencies if they receive suspicious calls, in addition to reminding the public to check the account number received via the Semak Mule portal before making any transactions. - Bernama
