TELUK INTAN: A 48-year-old trader was conned out of her savings totalling RM118,880 by a scammer impersonating an Inland Revenue Board (IRB) officer.
Hilir Perak district police chief Assistant Commissioner Ahmad Adnan Basri said the woman lodged a police report yesterday at 1.49pm.
Ahmad Adnan said initial investigation found that the woman received a phone call on Sept 14 from a man who introduced himself as an IRB officer and claimed the victim had an outstanding tax amounting to RM58,982.
"The victim denied the matter and the man told her to lodge a police report online before connecting the phone call to another man who introduced himself as Corporal Iskandar.
"The victim was asked to lodge a police report online as her name has also been misused by a man named Wong Bing Soon who claimed that the victim and him were involved in money laundering and drug trafficking activities," he said in a statement today.
Ahmad Adnan said for the investigation, the victim was told to transfer RM98,000 and the money would be returned to her once the investigation was completed.
"The victim's call was then transferred to a man who identified himself as Sergeant Redzwan and stated that he had interrogated the woman.
"He stated that the victim will be hanged to death and caned 15 times due to the gravity of the victim's crime.
"The victim was told to report herself to Redzwan at 9am, noon, 3pm, 5pm and 9pm via WhatsApp (017-544 2015)," he added.
Ahmad Adnan said on Friday at 11.05am, the victim received a phone call from Redzwan, who demanded that she disclose all of her assets to him.
"The victim disclosed all of her assets, including bank account records and jewellery. The victim then received a second phone call from Senior Assistant Commissioner Datuk Amirul, who requested that she take a photo of her husband's bank account card.
"She then sent the picture to him. On the same day, she also withdrew her savings from the Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) amounting to RM21,500 and transferred the money to another bank account. She made seven transactions to the same account bank," he added.
Ahmad Adnan said on Monday, the victim received a phone call from Amirul who told her to pawn all her jewellery.
"The victim followed the instruction and pawned her jewellery worth RM97,380 and transferred the money to two different financial institutions, provided by Amirul for investigation and he promised her that she would get her money back.
"Between Sept 14 and 18, the victim transferred all of her savings and the proceeds from the pawn of her jewellery to three local financial institutions, sustaining a total loss of RM118,880.
"Feeling worried and scared, the victim then told her husband who then advised her to lodge a police report," he added.
The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.