KUANTAN: A vegetable trader who was tricked into believing that she could post her bail payment online to evade arrest ended up losing RM274,000 of her Tabung Haji and Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) savings.
The 68-year-old from Temerloh was tricked by several individuals who claimed to be an insurance agent, policeman, deputy public prosecutor and a fraud investigator.
Pahang police chief Datuk Seri Yahaya Othman said the victim had received a phone call from a caller who introduced himself as an insurance agent on Sept 28 this year.
"The caller told the woman that she had an insurance claim under her name which the victim denied. The call was connected to a bogus policeman who introduced himself as an Inspector allegedly working at the Ampang Jaya police headquarters.
"The police officer claimed the victim was involved in money laundering activities and instructed the victim to provide her bank account details for further investigations. Each time the victim claims she was confused over the instructions, the call will be transferred to an officer including one who impersonated a deputy public prosecutor.
"The 'deputy public prosecutor' claimed the victim had an arrest warrant against her and to postpone her arrest, she requested to transfer all her Tabung Haji and ASB savings into one single bank account for investigation purposes," he said in a statement today.
Yahaya said on Oct 1 , the victim received a call from an individual claiming to be a fraud investigator who told her to replace her debit card and register her account using a new mobile number.
"She transferred RM237,000 through 32 online transactions between Oct 2 and Oct 10 into 14 separate bank accounts provided by the suspects. The victim was ordered to deposit RM29,000 through the cash deposit machine as bail payment to escape arrest," he said, adding the victim also lost the RM8,000 which she kept in the account.
The victim realised that she had been duped after informing her family members about the series of incidents and lodged a police report yesterday.
Yahaya advised the public to be careful when receiving calls from unknown individuals claiming to be representing enforcement agencies and not to blindly share their bank information with strangers.