Sibu district police acting chief Collin Babat said the woman, in her 50s, lodged a report yesterday after realising that she had been duped.

He said the victim received a phone call from a woman introducing herself as “Mastura” on Nov 30 last year claiming that the housewife’s name had been used in insurance claims amounting to RM76,800 over a period of three months.

The woman then instructed the victim to contact a police sergeant at the Pudu police station in Kuala Lumpur purportedly to avoid being issued with an arrest warrant and having her bank account frozen.

Babat said the victim was then told to open an account at a bank in Sibu, hand over her bank account and Tabung Haji account information and make five cash transactions totalling RM61,000 from Dec 13 last year to Jan 4.

“The victim was then contacted by another woman, who introduced herself as “Aisyah Abdullah”, who claimed that she was replacing “Mastura” who had been transferred elsewhere,” Babat said.

He said the housewife became suspicious and, upon checking, found that both her bank account and Tabung Haji account had been emptied.