SEGAMAT: A retiree has lodged a police report claiming he was cheated of RM72,500 in a phone scam recently.
District police chief Superintendent Ahmad Zamry Marinsah said the victim lodged a report two days ago saying he had first been contacted on the phone in August.
"The victim said he received a call from an individual he did not know who told him that an insurance claim had been made in his name.
"The call was then connected to another man who introduced himself as a civil servant and accused the victim of being involved in laundering money.
"The victim denied this and was ordered by the suspect to open a new bank account under his wife's name but to register a phone number given to him for the account. This was for the purpose of 'investigations and monitoring'.
"The victim was also ordered to move all the money in his Tabung Haji account, amounting to RM72,500, to the new bank account (in his wife's name)," he said.
Zamry said the victim only realised he had been cheated when he checked the new bank account and found that all the money had been transferred out.