BATU PAHAT: A senior citizen has lost over RM320,000 of his savings after being duped by a scammer pretending to be a bank official.
Batu Pahat OCPD Asst Comm Shahrulanuar Mushaddat Abdullah said the 75-year-old victim was contacted by an unknown woman in early May this year, who claimed that his bank account had been frozen by Bank Negara.
"The suspect instructed the victim to transfer his money into a Bank Negara account, claiming that it was necessary to release the frozen funds.
"She said the money would be returned once the process was completed and threatened that Bank Negara would track him down if he refused to cooperate," he said in a statement on Wednesday (Nov 11), adding that the victim complied.
ACP Shahrulanuar said the victim made several transfers into eight different bank accounts between May and November, amounting to RM325,951.33.
"After making the final transfer, the victim discovered that the suspect had blocked his phone number and he was unable to contact her.
"He then realised that he had been scammed and lodged a police report," he said, adding that the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
He urged the public to be cautious of calls from unknown individuals claiming to represent government departments or agencies.
He added that the public could also visit the Facebook pages of the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (@jsjkpdrm) and Cyber Crime Alert RMP (@cybercrimealertrmp) for the latest information on commercial crimes.
