Macau scam: Trader claims loss of RM859,500

KUANTAN: A trader has lodged a police report over claims that she lost RM859,500 to the Macau Scam after she was tricked by a person impersonating a police inspector.

Pahang Commercial Crime Investigation Department Chief Supt Mohd Wazir Mohd Yusof said the victim claimed that a man contacted her on April 24 claiming to be a employee of a courier company.

The suspect told her a parcel sent to Pahang from Sabah had her identity card and credit card numbers, which when checked, was found to be connected to money laundering activities.

“The victim was informed that the police will be contacting her for investigation purposes and not long after, a second male suspect who introduced himself as Inspector Ku told her that her name was also connected to a drug case.

“The second suspect instructed the victim to open a new bank account and transfer her savings there so that the money could not be withheld during the investigations,” he told reporters here yesterday.

Mohd Wazir said the second suspect also allegedly gave the victim a telephone number which she must include in the personal information of the new account and share the number with the ‘police’. The victim then said the next day, she transferred RM509,500 into the new account before the ‘inspector’ contacted her again a few days later to tell her to make more payments so that the money would not be held back.

“The victim claimed to have made 75 money transfer transactions amounting to RM350,000 into several accounts provided by the suspect, with the assurance that the money would be returned to her after the investigations were completed,” he said.— Bernama