scam alert websiteFebruary 5, 2021 @ 9:15am
KUALA LUMPUR: A 74-year-old retiree lost more than a million ringgit of her savings after falling victim to a Macau scam syndicate.

The elderly woman received a call on Sept 25 last year, purportedly from Pos Malaysia headquarters saying that they were holding a package containing an Identification Card (IC), a cheque book, and three bank cards under her name.

The call was then transferred to a man who introduced himself as Sergeant Fairul from the Sabah Contingent Police Headquarters. He told the victim that she was involved in a money laundering case and was under investigation.

The call was again transferred to another "policeman" named Si Wan, who threatened the victim by saying that she would be arrested and remanded if she refused to cooperate throughout "their investigations".

"Frightened, the victim obeyed all orders by the scammers and gave away her bank account information to Si Wan, and transferred RM833,000 from her Tabung Haji account into her Maybank account," Petaling Jaya District police chief Assistant Commissioner Nik Ezanee Mohd Faisal said in a statement.

He added that on Oct 5, 2020, Si Wan asked the woman to hand over her Maybank card, which he claimed was needed to withdraw the money for auditing purposes in the money laundering case she was supposedly under investigation for.

Nik Ezanee said on Oct 6, 2020, following Si Wan's instructions over the phone, the victim went to the Atria Shopping Mall and placed her Maybank card on top of a letterbox as instructed.

"On Oct 28, 2020, the victim conducted several transactions by transferring RM75,000 from her CIMB Bank account into her Maybank account, and four more transactions occurred as she transferred another RM84,500 into her Maybank account," he said.

Nik Ezanee added that the elderly victim had incurred losses estimated at about RM1,007,673.33 due to the syndicate which often targets the elderly who lack knowledge of cybercrime. - BERNAMA

Source: https://www.nst.com.my/news/crime-courts/2021/02/663224/74-year-old-pj-woman-loses-rm1-million-macau-scam-syndicate