JOHOR BARU: What began as a one-off S$300 (RM955) professional fee for an elderly woman seeking Singapore permanent resident status ended with her losing more than RM750,000 in life savings to scammers.
The woman, in her 60s, only realised she had been duped after months of transferring money to the scammers, who continued demanding payment to process her Singapore PR application.
A police official said the woman’s ordeal began after she came across an advertisement on applying for Singapore PR towards the end of last year.
“Once the woman contacted the number, the person assured her that the process was easy and that she only needed to deposit S$300 as a professional fee.
“The woman, convinced that it was genuine, paid the money and since then, the scammers have been contacting her and giving all sorts of excuses to siphon money from her,” the official said.
The official added that the woman had made more than 100 transactions, transferring money to various accounts both locally and abroad.
“Unable to stand their constant harassment, the woman decided to lodge a report recently,” the official said.
Meanwhile, in another scam case involving a senior citizen, a retiree in his 70s lost more than RM850,000 in a phone scam.
The official said the victim received a call in May from a man claiming to be a police officer, alleging that his name had been used to open an account for money laundering.
“The caller then connected the man to another person claiming to be from Bank Negara, who advised him to move his funds to another account,” the official said.
The victim was also directed to open another account under his name and transfer all his savings into it.
The official added that the scammers even obtained his personal details to open the new account and convinced the retiree to leave his bank ATM card at an undisclosed location in the city.
“However, when the man checked his account several days ago, there was less than RM50 left.
“The scammers had siphoned off all his money,” the official said.
Police are investigating both cases under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
The public can check suspicious bank accounts and other details via Semak Mule, contact the CCID Scam Response Centre at 03-2610 1599, or visit the Facebook pages @jsjkpdrm and @cybercrimealertrmp.
Scam victims are advised to contact the National Scam Response Centre at 997 to report their cases.
