TANJUNG MALIM: A lecturer incurred losses of over half a million ringgit after falling victim to a phone call scam syndicate here.
Muallim District Police Chief, Superintendent Mohd Hasni Mohd Nasir, stated that based on the victim's report, the 38-year-old woman received a call from a suspect who claimed to be an employee of a courier company on Aug 3, at around noon.
Mohd Hasni said that the suspect alleged that the victim had two packages at the office of the said company containing five identification cards, five passports, and five ATM cards belonging to others.
"The said phone call was then supposedly connected to the Perak State Police Contingent Headquarters (IPK) and Bukit Aman (Royal Malaysia Police Headquarters) for verification purposes and a police report.
"The imposter, posing as a police officer, informed the victim that she was involved in money laundering and human trafficking.
"A warrant for her arrest has also been issued. The victim was then instructed to make a fund transfer for verification, whether she was involved or not in the case," he said in a statement today.
Mohd Hasni said that investigations revealed that from the time the victim was contacted by the suspect until Saturday, she carried out money transfer transactions 25 times to 16 different account holders.
"The victim began to realise she was deceived or misled after being confronted by her husband due to her change in behavior and frequent mobile phone usage.
"The victim also sought to borrow money from her husband to make payments to the individuals, and up to this point, she has suffered a loss of RM 537,659.89," he added.
Mohd Hasni said that the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code and advised the public to exercise caution to avoid falling victim to fake phone call scams or scammers.
He further urged the public to verify information on the website http:/semakmule.rmp.gov.my or contact CCID INFOLINE at 013-2111222 and CCID RESPONSE CENTRE at 03-26101559/03-26101599, as well as the Facebook page CyberCrimeAlertRMP.