Lecturer loses RM260,000 to Macau Scam

KOTA KINABALU: A lecturer here was made to part with RM260,000 of her savings by scammers operating a Macau Scam.

City Police Chief ACP M Chandra said the 28-year- old victim deposited the money into four different bank accounts for eight days starting May 21 to May 28.

It started on May 21 when she received a SMS from the short message service number 68886 claiming that her CIMB credit card was used at an airport that day, he said.

“The woman who is a lecturer at a public university, followed the instructions in the SMS and called the toll free number 1- 800- 81-7399 and spoke to a scammer posing as a CIMB bank officer. The suspect said her bank account will be blocked and instructed the woman to call Bank Negara at the number 03- 92121402 to speak to the investigating officer about her case.

“She did just that and was instructed by the Bank Negara ‘officer’ to make several monetary transactions within the eight days as processing fees to have her bank account unfrozen.

She only realised she was duped out of her savings after she was no longer able to contact the ‘officer’, said Chandra.

Chandra urged the public to ignore such SMSes and be wary when receiving calls from any agencies requesting for payments to be made to avoid legal action being taken against them.

The police also advise the public to be wary of falling prey to the Macau Scam with its modus operandi of a scammer posing as a bank officer or a police officer. The number used by the scammers actually belongs to the agencies but are accessed through a ‘spoofing’ method, he explained.

Chandra said the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code.