MELAKA, Feb 2 — A clerk lost RM68,700 after being duped by a Macau Scam syndicate which claimed she had tax arrears and was involved in drugs and money laundering activities, police said.
An individual who introduced herself as Noraina Azlan from the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) in Cyberjaya first contacted the clerk and told her she had tax arrears of RM38,690.
Melaka Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Supt E. Sundra Rajan said the 40-year-old woman, who lives in Krubong, denied the allegation.
“However, she was connected to an individual who claimed to be ‘Sergeant Roslan’ from the Pahang contingent police headquarters, who asked for details of the victim’s identity card to conduct checks.
“After that, the victim was informed that she had been involved in drug and money laundering activities before being connected to another individual who introduced himself as ‘ACP Datuk Wazir’,” he said in a statement today.
He said the individual asked the victim to download the ‘MYBNM’ application through Google to fill in bank account details for investigation purposes and sent her a WhatsApp message ordering her to submit the Transaction Authorisation Code (TAC) to him.
Not suspecting anything fishy, the victim gave the TAC number to the man, but the woman became suspicious when she received a short message from the bank saying there was a transaction in her account.
“The victim contacted three banking institutions and was told that there were unsuccessful money transfers. However, there were nine transfers from the victim’s HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd account amounting to RM68,700 into a third party account,” he said.
The woman lodged a report at the Tengkera police station here yesterday and the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code.
Sundra Rajan said the telephone number used by the suspect was found to have been involved in 14 reports using the same modus operandi against 14 victims with losses totalling RM492,950.50.
“The public is advised to check the phone number and bank account number at https://ccid.rmp.gov.my/semakmule/ before making any decision and not to easily trust anyone claiming to be from IRB or any suspicious parties,” he added. — Bernama
