Scam victim lodges report over case which happened nearly two years ago

KUCHING: Sarawak Commercial Crime Investigation Department ( CCID) on Thursday ( Nov 1) received only one report from an individual who fell victim to a Macau scam which occurred way back on Nov 20, 2016.

According to CCID head Supt Mustafa Kamal Gani Abdullah, the victim a 56- year- old female executive in Miri lost RM16,899.98 to the scam.

Based on the report, the victim received a call from a credit card issuerwhosaidthatshehadallegedly made a transaction using the card at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) whereas the victim was in Miri at the material time.

She was then referred to a “Bank Negara” man called Yusof who told her to change her passwords for her bank account at two different banks.

The victim complied and followed the step-by-step instructions given to her by Yusof via telephone.

The victim only realised that she was cheated after she called her banker who confirmed that her accounts had been cleaned by the scammer.

Separately, two male individuals, a 41-year-old businessman and a 31year- old safety officer both from Miri managed to avoid from being cheated by scammers who had called them claiming to be police personnel. Both however sensed that something was not right with the call and immediately hung up the phone and later lodged a police report.

Apart from the above cases, Sarawak CCID on Nov 1 received two parcel scam reports both in Miri - with no victims recorded.

According to Mustafa, an 18year- old female student in Miri received a message via Instagram from a user named “Rico Wang” who wanted to befriend her on Sept 9. A few days later, Rico told the girl that he had sent a parcel to her but also had asked her to pay RM3,500 for shipping fee.

Some days later, the student received a call from a ‘courier company’ who demanded payment for the shipping fee.

Rico also continued to message her saying that the ‘courier company’ had demanded an extra RM1,000 as payment for the parcel’s storage. The student later lodged a police report on Sept 1 for her safety.

The second case involved a 33year- old female factory operator who received a WhatsApp message from an unknown person who wanted her to deposit RM50,000 for a parcel which was claimed to have been shipped by an individual named “Andrew Ali” from the United Kingdom.

The scammer also tried to use scare tactics on the woman claiming that his client (Andrew Ali) would publish alleged lewd photos of her if the payment was not made within 48 hours. The woman refused to pay the amount and later lodged a police report.