Penang woman loses RM618,000 in life savings to scammers
Senior citizen follows instructions from a man claiming to be a police officer and loses money.
GEORGE TOWN: A 66-year-old woman from Perai lost more than half a million ringgit after she was duped by scammers pretending to be police officers probing her for money laundering last month.
Police said the retired factory executive transferred a total of RM618,302.58 in batches between Dec 13 and Dec 26 last year into another bank account belonging to her.
The scammers then made her apply for an ATM card for the account and an online banking password. They emptied the account in three weeks. She had earlier sent the ATM card to the scammers.
Central Seberang Perai police chief Nik Ros Azhan Nik Abdul Hamid said the victim received a phone call on Dec 11 from a “Pos Laju officer” in Kuantan, claiming that her parcel to Miri, Sarawak, had been quarantined.
Nik Ros said the “Pos Laju officer” then connected the woman to a man claiming to be a high-ranking “police officer” at the Kuantan police headquarters who told her she would be investigated for money laundering.
Nik Ros said the woman was told that she had attempted to send her MyKad and credit card to a scammer in Sarawak and that this was an offence.
“The victim was then told to transfer her savings to an account for a Bank Negara audit (for money laundering). She obliged without asking any questions. The victim was told that they would contact her again, but after three weeks, the call never came,” he said when contacted.
The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
Last December, a businessman in Butterworth lost RM285,000 to scammers after he was made to believe that he was involved in money laundering.
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He too received a call from a “Pos Laju officer”.