JOHOR BARU, Dec 13 — An entertainment centre DJ was tricked into parting with more than RM400,000 of her savings after she recently fell victim to a Macau Scam syndicate.
Johor police commercial crime chief Assistant Commissioner Amran Md Jusin said that the 45-year-old victim lodged a report yesterday after she suspected she had been duped.
He said the victim initially received a call on December 1 at around 1pm from an unknown man who identified himself as a Telekom Malaysia officer.
“The caller told the victim that she had been ‘blacklisted’ over numerous unpaid telephone bills.
“The caller also said he would call the victim again on the matter,” said Amran in a statement issued here today.
Shortly after the call, Amran said a woman called the victim from a mobile phone number and claimed to be a police officer attached with the Kuantan police headquarters.
“The caller identified herself as ‘Inspector Ling’ and claimed that she can assist the victim in making a police report online.
“Following checks, the caller told the victim that her name had been linked to illegal money-laundering activities,” he said.
Amran added that the caller then ordered the victim to make several money transactions into several bank accounts that were given to her, claiming that it was for investigation purposes.
She also assured the victim that the money would be returned to her once the investigation was completed.
“The victim then followed the caller’s instructions and made a total of 58 transactions to eight bank accounts between December 2 and 9 amounting to RM419,050, before realising she had been duped when her calls to the ‘inspector’ went unanswered.
Amran said the case was being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
He also reminded the public to always be wary, especially when receiving calls from unknown callers claiming to be from government enforcement agencies.
