IPOH, Aug 14 — A woman lecturer lost half a million ringgit after she was panicked by a fraud syndicate over the phone and finally hung up — after RM537,659.89 was siphoned to be exact.
Muallim police chief Mohd Hasni Mohd Nasir said the 38-year-old woman disclosed that the deception began when she received a phone call from a man claiming to be an employee of a courier company on Aug 3.
“The caller stated that the victim had two parcels in her name containing five identity cards, five passports and five bank cards belonging to other people, before being connected to what was said to be the Perak and Bukit Aman contingent police headquarters with the syndicate’s intention of convincing the victim,” he said today.
Mohd Hasni said the suspect, who was posing as an investigating officer, claimed there was an arrest warrant out on the victim for money laundering including human trafficking which ‘forced’ the woman to follow instructions including transferring the entire sum to 16 different accounts.
“The panic-stricken woman followed the suspect’s instructions by transferring her money amounting to RM537,659 to the accounts given by the syndicate from Aug 3 to Aug 12 through 25 transactions.”
He said the lecturer only realised she was the victim of a fraud syndicate after her husband saw his wife’s peculiar behaviour of nervously glancing at the phone and wanting to borrow money to make payments.
The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code while the public is advised not to be easily deceived by similar modus operandi and to always check with the National Scam Response Centre at the 997 number.
Bernamw
