Supervisor loses over RM200,000 to Macau scam
BINTULU: A 59-year-old supervisor of a private company here lost his hard-earned savings of RM209,800 to a Macau scam.
Bintulu police chief Supt Batholomew Umpit in a statement said the victim received a call from someone claiming to be from the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Putrajaya on Nov 15.
“The suspect accused the victim of making 1,200 baseless allegations against MoH on social media and that the case is under police investigation. The conversation was then transferred to another person who claimed to be a policeman from the Kota Kinabalu district police headquarters (IPD) in Sabah.
“In order to ‘resolve’ the case, the victim was asked to appeal to the police officer because his name was also allegedly linked to illegal money laundering and drug smuggling,” he said, adding the victim was also threatened with court action if he failed to ‘resolve’ the case immediately.
Batholomew said the victim was then instructed to open a bank account and was told to deposit some money.
“The victim withdrew his savings in ASB (Amanah Saham Bumiputera) and put it into the new account and also followed other instructions from the suspect to register an email account and the suspect’s mobile number for online banking transactions,” he said.
Batholomew said the victim only realised he had been scammed after RM209,800 from the account was transferred into two unknown individuals’ accounts via nine transactions on Nov 16 and 17, leaving only RM388 inside.
The victim subsequently lodged a police report on Tuesday, he added.
He reminded the public to remain calm and not panic when receiving such calls from unknown individuals who claim to be from government agencies, financial institutions, insurance companies and courier companies.
“End the conversation immediately and check with the relevant authorities for verification. Never call the numbers provided by these individuals, and never disclose your personal and banking details to anyone.”
Suspicious telephone numbers and bank accounts can be checked via CHECK SCAMMERS CCID or through http://semakmule.rmp. gov.my.
Alternatively, contact the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) Scam Response Centre on 03-26101559 or the CCID info line on 0132111222 (WhatsApp/SMS), or the National Scam Response Centre on 997.