GEORGE TOWN: A teacher lost RM890,000 after falling victim to a phone scam syndicate that falsely accused the victim of being involved in money laundering, in an incident reported here recently.
Penang deputy police chief Datuk Mohd Alwi Zainal Abidin said the 59-year-old woman filed a police report yesterday at the Commercial Crime Investigation Division of the Northeast District Police Headquarters.
“According to the victim, on May 10, while at her home in George Town, she received a phone call from an unknown number, a man who introduced himself as a representative of a bank, then told her that a credit card had been misused in her name.
“The woman denied having the credit card, and the call was supposedly connected to an individual claiming to be a police officer in Johor who said that she was involved in a money laundering case,“ he said in a statement.
He said the police officer then asked her to transfer her money for audit purposes, and that the money would be returned after the investigation was completed.
She claimed the police officer even threatened that an arrest warrant would be issued if she failed to do so, he added.
Mohd Alwi said the victim made 27 online money transfer transactions to 23 different accounts from May 19 to June 5, involving a total of RM890,000. The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code, which is for cheating.
