KUANTAN: A charity association secretary was left helpless after losing savings worth RM728,480 from her late father's and her own in less than a week to fraudsters.
The 38-year-old female victim did not realise she had fallen victim to a scam syndicate when she 'naively' made 147 transactions into several unknown bank accounts.
Pahang police chief Datuk Seri Yahaya Othman said the incident unfolded when the victim received a phone call from an individual claiming to be a Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) officer on Aug 7.
"The 'MCMC officer' told the victim that a police report was lodged against her mobile phone number before the call was connected to another individual claiming to be a police officer.
"The 'policeman' informed the victim that she was involved in drug activities, and told the victim to transfer all her savings to allow the authorities to conduct the necessary investigations."
Yahaya said the victim transferred all her savings on 147 occasions into 11 separate bank accounts provided by the suspects between Aug 8 and Aug 19.
"The victim claimed she had transferred the cash given by her late father, and from her savings. She lodged a police report yesterday," he said, adding the case was being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
Yahaya advised the public to be cautious of calls from strangers especially requesting money to be deposited online and to always check https://semakmule.rmp.gov.my.