JOHOR BARU, April 19 — Macau scam rings have cheated Johoreans of close to RM10 million in the first four months of this year, state police shared today.
Johor Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) chief Assistant Commissioner Amran Md Jusin said the latest statistics showed a significant increase in Macau scam cases compared to last year.
“For the period from January 1 to April 18, the state police recorded a total of 209 cases involving a staggering sum of RM9.5 million in losses.
“This is an increase of RM6.7 million compared with the corresponding period last year where police recorded losses amounting to only RM2.8 million from 90 Macau scam related cases,” said Amran in a statement.
He said the modus operandi of these scams usually see syndicate members impersonate policemen, Inland Revenue Board (IRB) officers or insurance agents and warned the public to be wary when getting calls from unknown phone numbers or through an operator.
“The victim will then be told that they have outstanding tax arrears, before being instructed to call another number posing as a policeman or other enforcement agency officers,” he said.
Amran explained that the victim will then be told they are involved in money laundering activities, which will cause them to panic before they are asked to provide their banking details including transaction codes or one-time PIN (OTP).
“The victim will be ordered to transfer all of their money to another account or to the victim’s existing account where it will be later withdrawn through internet banking transfer without the victim’s knowledge,” he said.
In light of the rise in such cases, he advised the public to ignore telephone calls from unknown individuals.
“They should also never disclose their banking information to any party,” he said.
