Housewife loses RM15,000 to Macau scam

KUCHING: A 41- year- old housewife is believed to be the latest victim of the Macau scam after she was made RM15,000 poorer as a result of a phone call she received from a man on April 24 over her alleged outstanding Goods and Services Tax ( GST) amount.

During the call, the officer told the victim that she had an outstanding amount of RM50,000 that needed to be paid.

Sarawak Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) chief Supt Mustafa Kamal Gani Abdullah who confirmed the case said a police report was lodged by the victim over the incident on April 25.

“After talking to the first suspect , her cal l was then transferred to a second suspect who introduced himself as an officer from the Royal Malaysian Customs Department,” said Mustafa in a press statement here yesterday.

The second suspect, Mustafa added, then asked the victim to him her personal information.

Soon after that, the call was transferred to a third suspect who claimed to be a police officer in Penang.

“The third suspect told the victim that she was involved in a money laundering case involving RM150,000 that was deposited into her savings account,” said Mustafa.

To help her solve the case, the suspect told the victim to withdraw her savings and deposit it into an account number (given by the suspect) for ‘verification’.

“The suspect also told the victim that the money would be returned to her within two hours after the verification process,” said Mustafa.

The victim compl ied and transferred her savings into the new account given by the suspect.

After waiting in vain for more than two hours for her money to be returned, the victim finally real ised that she had been scammed.

In regard to this incident and other similar ones, the police are urging the public not to be easily duped by scammers who claimed that they are police officers or from any other enforcement agencies or departments.

“The pol ice or any other government agencies will never ask a person to transfer or deposit money into a personal bank account,” Mustafa said.