Civil servant made RM90,000 poorer in Macau scam

MIRI: A 32-year-old civil servant is made RM90,000 poorer after falling victim to a Macau scam between Nov 23 and 27.

In a press statement received here yesterday, Sarawak Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) head Supt Mustafa Kamal Gani Abdullah, said the victim received a call from an unknown individual who told her that she was involved in a hit-and-run accident on Nov 20.

“The phone call was then transferred to a police inspector who told the victim that she was also into money laundering involving 23 banks in Sabah, and that a warrant of arrest had been issued against her.

“After that, the phone call was transferred to another police inspector who purportedly handled the case. The so-called police inspector told the victim to transfer RM90,000 to a Bank Rakyat account under Tan Chee Kee on Nov 27,” Mustafa said.

The victim went to the bank and transferred the money over the counter.

Mustafa said the bank was not suspicious of the transaction as the victim told them that the money would be used for the purchase of a piece of land (which the scammers told her to tell the bank if asked).

He added the victim was also asked to transfer another RM50,000 to CIMB bank under two different names.

“When she went to the bank to make the transfer, the bank officer questioned her as she had just opened an account the day before, and that she is still young (to make such transaction). After telling the bank about the previous transaction she made at Bank Rakyat, the CIMB officer told her to check again with the bank (Bank Rakyat) whether it was a scam,” Mustafa said.

The woman later lodged a police report after realising she had been scammed.

In another case, a student claimed the loss of all his RM400savings on Tuesday.

The victim received a phone call from a man claiming to be from a court in Melaka telling him that he has a RM10,000-loan with Hong Leong Bank, and RM8,795.75 outstanding

“The call was transferred to a man purportedly a policeman from a police station in Melaka who told him that he was an accomplice with a man named Michael Ling in drug activities, and was using his Maybank account for the transactions.

The victim then transferred all his RM400 savings to the account given to him.