Scammers fleece senior citizen of RM390,000

KUCHING: A woman in her 70s from here was recently scammed of around RM390,000 after she fell victim to a phone scam which started in November last year.

In a statement yesterday, Sarawak Police Commissioner Dato Mancha Ata said the scam began when the victim, a retiree from the private sector, received a call from a person claiming to be a police officer from Perak.

“The victim was told that she was involved in money laundering activities through an account registered under her name,” he said.

He said the victim was told to transfer her savings into a third-party account for auditing purposes by Bank Negara Malaysia.

The victim complied and made a total of 17 transactions totalling around RM390,000 to two different bank accounts in mid-November last year.

“The victim agreed to the request after she was told that the money will be returned to her once the auditing process has been completed,” said Mancha.

He added that the victim only realised that she was scammed after the money was never returned to her savings account.

The public are advised not to entertain unknown phone calls and to immediately notify their partners, friends, or family members should they receive such phone calls as well as to check with the police, banks, or related agencies for confirmation.

They should not provide bank details to unknown individuals or parties and should refrain from registering the suspects’ phone numbers for their online banking.

Contact the National Scam Response Centre on 997 if you are a victim of cyberscams (phone scam, love scam, e-commerce, non-existent loans) and if you have just made a money transfer to a suspect’s bank account or ewallet. The public can also download the Whoscall app via the Google Play Store or Apple Store to identify numbers listed in the Semak Mule System database or scan the QR Code on the Commercial Crime Investigation Department’s (CCID) social media accounts and commercial crime e-books to get the latest information on commercial crime modus operandi.

Contact the CCID Infoline on 013-211 1222 via WhatsApp or SMS to receive advice or provide information on online criminal cases, or check suspected phone numbers and bank accounts through the Check Scammers CCID app or http://semakmule. rmp.gov.my before making any transactions.

Visit the CCID’s official social media accounts (@JSJKPDRM and @CYBERCRIMEALERTRMP) on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok to get information on the latest fraud modes of operation.