Retired teacher loses RM2.9m in Macau scam
> Woman, 60, falls victim to conmen claiming to be senior police and bank officers
PONTIAN: A retired primary school teacher lost RM2.9 million over three months this year to cheats using the Macau scam.
Pontian district police chief Supt Mustafa Batri yesterday said the 60-year-old victim received a call purportedly from a bank and a person claiming to be a bank officer said she had a bank loan that still needed to be paid.
Another man impersonating a senior police officer phoned her and offered to solve her problem.
“Because of fear and panic, she made 21 bank transactions through internet banking within three months,” Mustafa said, adding it was the modus operandi of Macau scammers to impersonate bank and senior police officers.
They would put fear in their victims with stories of unserviced bank loans, money laundering and illicit drug trades.
The victims would be instructed to open a new account under their own names, and the syndicate would get the account IDs and passwords from the victims.
Mustafa said the retired teacher only came to know she was cheated early last month after she noticed that her new account had been emptied.
“At this point of time, the syndicate got all the money,” he said, adding that there were eight cases of the Macau scam with losses totalling RM3.98 million for the first three months of this year.
All eight Macau scam victims were women, aged 50 and above.
Police also received four reports of online loan scheme cheating during the same period.
Four loan applicants lost RM19,530 in various application fees such as service charges and lawyer fees for which the loans did not materialise.
The goods bought online included electronics, cosmestics and old currency.
He urged the public to check http://ccid.rmp.gov.my/ semakmule before making any online transactions.