Businessman in his 70s loses RM6.7mil to scammers – the biggest fraud case of the year.

Elderly businessman duped by ‘court officer’ and ‘police officer’

KOTA BARU: A 70-something businessman lost RM6.7mil to scammers who pretended to be a Johor court officer and a Johor police officer.

“This fraud case is the single biggest one this year,” said Kelantan police chief Datuk Hasanuddin Hassan.

“The court officer called the victim and said he had a pending case involving the registration of a company in Johor.

“Although the victim said it was not true, the call was transferred to the fake police officer who said his case was being investigated and he has to appear in court.

“Afterwards, feeling unsettled, the victim began transferring between RM80,000 and RM500,000 to a bank account number provided by the officer,” Hasanuddin said at a press conference yesterday.

When the businessman finally realised something was not right, he lodged a report at the Kota Baru police station yesterday. The scam started in October. “We urge people to be more careful and not easily tricked by fake threats over the phone.

“In this situation, perhaps the victim was easily manipulated because he is an elderly person,” Hasanuddin said after attending a handover of duties ceremony between state Commercial Crime Investigation Department acting chief Deputy Supt Ahmad Arifin and new department chief Supt Ahmad Azizul Mohamed. The Macau scam often starts with a phone call from someone pretending to be an officer from a bank, government agency or debt collector.

The scammer will then claim that the potential victim owes money or has an unpaid fine, often with a very short window of less than an hour to settle the payment, or else they will face “dire consequences”.

These unsuspecting victims will then be asked to make payments to get them off the hook.