JOHOR BAHRU – A retired police officer lost over RM310,000 after falling victim to a phone scam last month.
Batu Pahat deputy district police chief Shahrulanuar Mushaddat Abdullah Sani said the woman, aged 60, received a phone call from an individual claiming to be a police officer from the Perak contingent headquarters.
He said the individual claimed that the victim was on a list of suspects to be arrested for involvement in money laundering and that all assets and money belonging to her would be frozen.
“The suspect asked the victim to provide her bank account details purportedly for investigation purposes by the National Audit Department,” he said in a statement today.
Shahrulanuar said the victim also transferred money, totalling RM66,050, in two stages to two different bank accounts last month.
He said that on June 3, the victim checked her account via online banking to find that the remaining RM244,945.78 in her bank account had been transferred without her knowledge. “The total amount of the victim’s loss was RM310,995.78,” he also said.
He added that the case was being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code, and advised the public to be more careful when receiving phone calls from unknown numbers and to check with the authorities first if they were instructed to do any suspicious transactions. – June 5, 2024