SIBU: A teacher lost RM118,000 after she willingly went into debt and pawned her jewellery without realising that she had been conned by a Macau scam syndicate.
On Oct 28 last year, the 58-year-old woman was contacted by a suspect disguised as an insurance agent, informing that she had made four insurance claims.
Acting Sibu OCPD Supt Collin Babat said the victim was then connected to an alleged police inspector from the Bukit Aman Police Headquarters, who informed her that she was involved in money laundering worth RM1.8 million.
Following that, the victim was contacted by another suspect disguised as a lawyer who offered legal services to help solve her issues.
She was advised to open a new bank account and instructed to send a photo of her bank card and pin number to the suspect on Nov 7 last year.
“Worried, the victim followed all the instructions and borrowed RM75,000 from a bank, which was approved on Nov 15 and transferred the money to the new bank account.
“Two days later, the victim transferred another RM27,000, that was borrowed from another bank, to the account. She also pawned her jewellery worth RM20,000 and transferred RM16,000 from the amount into the bank account on Nov 16.
“The suspect had instructed her not to inform anyone and to discard all transaction documents,” he said.
After a while, the victim told her husband about the matter. Only then did she realise that she had been deceived.
Collin said the case was being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
