KUCHING, Nov 17 — A 72-year-old woman here lost more than RM1.3 million after falling victim to a phone scam that began in July.
Kuching police chief ACP Alexson Naga Chabu said a report on the case was received yesterday.
He said the whole ordeal began on July 31, when the victim was contacted by an unknown individual claiming to be from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).
The suspect told the victim that her phone number was linked to a criminal case.
“The suspect then transferred the call to another individual who identified himself as ‘Sergeant Tan’, who claimed to be from the Terengganu police headquarters.
“The suspect instructed the victim to transfer money for investigation purposes into seven different bank accounts through 14 transactions,” he said in a statement.
Alexson said the victim only realised she had been scammed after being contacted by her husband.
“As a result, she suffered a financial loss of RM1,300,200,” he added.
The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating and dishonestly inducing the delivery of property, which carries a punishment of between one year and 10 years in prison, caning, and a possible fine upon conviction.
On reported phone scam cases with similar modus operandi, Alexson said for this year until November 16, the Kuching Commercial Crime Investigation Division (CCID) had opened 92 investigation papers with total losses amounting to RM5,965,575.50, including this latest case.
He reminded the public to stay calm and immediately end suspicious calls, never disclose personal or banking information to unknown callers, contact the nearest police station to verify or report such incidents, and check suspicious account numbers and phone numbers via the official PDRM Semak Mule portal at https://semakmule.rmp.gov.my.
Alternatively contact the CCID Sarawak Hotline on 011-62890089 or email [email protected] or the National Scam Response Centre Hotline on 997 (24 hours). — The Borneo Post
