KUANTAN: Two women in Pahang were scammed out of RM327,829.36 by impersonators posing as police officers and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) officials.
Pahang police chief Datuk Seri Yahaya Othman reported that in the first case, a 66-year-old woman was deceived out of RM216,175.88 after receiving a phone call on Jan 3, from a suspect claiming to be a police officer saying there was a complaint linked to her phone number.
The woman, a retail shop owner, and Felda settler was further deceived into believing she was in possession of illegal items, involved in money laundering, and that an arrest warrant had been issued against her.
“She was instructed to place her ATM card at a designated location after transferring all her funds into one account, supposedly for investigation purposes.
“Fearing for her safety, the victim followed the suspect’s instructions and transferred RM83,000 from her ASB account, RM51,000 from her Tabung Haji, RM24,733 from the sale of jewelry, as well as RM57,442.88 from her bank account,” he said in a statement today.
Yahaya stated that the victim only realised she had been scammed after failing to recover the money within the seven days set at the start of the purported investigation.
In the second case, Yahaya said a 62-year-old retired teacher lost RM111,653.48 after being deceived by a message from the suspect on Jan 14, claiming there was an outstanding credit card payment from a bank.
The victim was instructed to contact the phone number provided, where she was told she had applied for a credit card and incurred a charge of RM4,778.90.
Despite denying this, the victim was advised to contact a BNM official and was then directed to transfer funds to a third-party account.
She then made 17 transactions to various accounts supposedly for investigation purposes, suffering a loss of RM111,653.48, drawn from her savings and pension funds.
Yahaya advised the public to be wary of calls from unknown numbers and to always verify such claims with the police or relevant agencies to avoid falling prey to scams.
