SIBU: A housewife lost RM87,240 after falling prey to a Macau scam syndicate late last year.
The victim, who is in her 50s, had on Nov 30 received a call from one ‘Mastura’, who said her name had been used to make an insurance claim amounting to RM76,800 in three months.
The victim was instructed to lodge a police complaint at the Pudu police station in Kuala Lumpur and speak to a ‘Sergeant Zulkifli Zubir’ from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
Acting Sibu police chief Supt Dr Collin Babat said the so-called officer asked the victim to deal with ‘Mastura’ to avoid an arrest warrant being issued and her bank account being frozen.
“The complainant was later told to make an audio confession to cooperate and delay the arrest warrant as well as to avoid the freezing of her account.
“She was also advised to open a Bank Islam account as it was the safest intended for a bail process should prosecution be carried out against her,” he said.
Once the account was opened, victim was instructed to give her Bank Islam account and Bank Tabung Haji account information and make several transactions to her Bank Islam account,” he said.
The victim thereafter made five transactions amounting to RM61,000 into the Bank Islam account.
Collin said the victim was contacted by another woman named ‘Aisyah Abdullah’ to handle her matter because ‘Mastura’ had been transferred to another place.
Feeling suspicious, the victim checked the account balance in her Bank Islam and Bank Tabung Haji accounts and, to her dismay, found that her accounts had been wiped clean.
Collin said on feeling cheated of RM87,240 she came forward to lodge a police report.
He advised the public not to be easily deceived by the requests from people posing as police officers, lawyers, insurance representatives and so on.
“Do not entertain suspicious phone calls, do not give personal details or bank account numbers and immediately hang up,” Collin said.
