Two women and ‘cop’ arrested over Macau Scam

GEORGE TOWN: Penang police smashed a Macau Scam syndicate and arrested two women and a man who allegedly fleeced almost RM500,000.

It is believed that more than 14 such cases have been solved around Bukit Mertajam, Kepala Batas and Seberang Jaya following their arrests.

Penang police chief Comm Datuk Seri A. Thaiveegan (pic) said the suspects would pretend to be police, bank or Customs officers and call up victims to accuse them of illegal money transfers and smuggling.

On July 31, a 20-year-old woman in Bukit Mertajam was detained after a 59-yearold lecturer lodged a police report after transferring RM310,000 into her bank account.

Earlier, he received a phone call from someone who claimed to be a police sergeant, accusing him of being involved in illegal money transfers and smuggling from Thailand.

“The policeman then told him that he could ‘settle’ the case or he would be arrested and charged in court,” Comm Thaiveegan said in a statement.

He said the victim then transferred RM300,000 into a “Bank Negara account”.

“The ‘policeman’ called the victim again on July 28 to say that the case could not be settled and another RM10,000 must be banked into the account.

“After banking in the money, the ‘policeman’ couldn’t be contacted anymore,” Comm Thaiveegan said, adding that the victim then lodged a police report.

Comm Thaiveegan said, following the first arrest, police arrested another woman and a man, both 21, in Penaga and Seberang Jaya the same day.

“Investigations showed that the man, who also posed as the ‘policeman’, had been to Japan and the United Arab Emirates to work with the Macau Scam syndicate since November last year,” he said.

The three suspects have been remanded pending investigations into the cases classified as cheating under Section 420 of the Penal Code.

The name of the scam is such because it is believed to have originated from Macau or that the first victims came from there. This has never been confirmed.

Macau Scam often starts with a phone call from someone pretending to be an officer from a bank, government agency or debt collector.

The scammer will then claim that the potential victim owes money or has an unpaid fine, often with a very short window of less than an hour, to settle the payment or face “dire consequences”.

These unsuspecting victims will then be asked to make payments to get them off the hook.