KUANTAN: It took only 24 hours for a 45-year old rubber tapper to lose RM184,999 of his savings to a Macau scam syndicate.
The man from Bera was duped by the syndicate members into believing that a third party had information about his automated teller machine (ATM) card and was ordered to transfer his money into four bank accounts for investigation purposes.
In the Nov 14 incident, the victim received a phone call from a purported bank officer in Kuala Lumpur claiming that their records showed that he had RM7,000 outstanding credit card payments.
When the victim said that he had never opened any bank account in Kuala Lumpur, the suspect claimed that the credit card was used by another individual who had made cash advance withdrawal.
The “bank officer” then transferred the call to the “Bukit Aman federal police headquarters” where a “policeman” informed the victim that a third party had access to all his ATM card information including card verification code on the back of the card.
The officer who identified himself as “Yap Chee Hong” ordered the victim to transfer his money to other bank accounts while the "authorities" investigate the matter.
Pahang Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Superintendent Mohd Wazir Mohd Yusof said under the assumption that he was speaking to the authorities, the victim made four transactions amounting RM184,999 to the four bank accounts.
“Once he had completed the procedures, the ‘policeman’ told the victim that investigations would be completed in three days and once the victim’s bank accounts were declared safe, the cash will be returned.
“On Nov 16, the victim tried contacting Yap but the call did not go through. The victim realised something amiss and lodged a police report at the district police station,” Wazir said.
Meanwhile, in a separate case in Kuala Lipis, a 19-year-old mechanic lost RM800 to an online lottery scam on Nov 15.
Wazir said the victim who was lured by a lottery advertisement on Facebook to make easy money had contacted the lottery agent and was instructed to deposit RM300 to obtain the number.
“About 3pm on Nov 6, the victim transferred RM300 through online banking and later the same day, he was informed that he had struck the winning number. The agent told him to deposit RM500 to receive the lottery receipt number to obtain his prize.
“Assuming that he was going to win big money, the victim transferred RM500 and when he tried contacting the agent, the suspect’s phone was switched off. Sensing that he has been cheated, the victim decided to lodge a police report.”
Wazir said both cases were being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
The offence carries a maximum jail term of 10 years, a fine and whipping, if convicted.