KUALA TERENGGANU: A retired teacher suffered losses of RM218,900 and had her pension and savings wiped out after falling victim to a phone scam syndicate.
District police chief Assistant Commissioner Azli Mohd Noor said the incident occurred when the 65-year-old woman, who was at home, received a phone call from someone claiming to be from a medical centre on Aug 31.
He said the suspect informed the victim that she had an insurance claim amounting to RM68,800, which the victim denied, before being asked to file a police report regarding the misuse of her personal information.
"On Sept 24, the victim was instructed to open an account for monitoring purposes by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and was asked to deposit RM5,000 as a fixed deposit into the account.
"The victim was also asked to transfer RM201,900 from her Tabung Haji account into the same account.
"She realised she had been scammed after explaining the situation to her daughter on Sept 26. A check with the bank yesterday revealed that her bank account balance was only RM100," he said.
Azli added that checks found 20 transactions made, resulting in the loss of RM218,900.
He said the victim, dissatisfied and feeling deceived, lodged a report on the same day.
"Further investigation is underway, and the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating," he said.