MARUDI, April 15: A government retiree from Marudi has lost a total of RM1.19 million after falling victim to a Macau scam.
Sarawak Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) chief Supt Maria Rasid said the 60-year-old victim had received a call from a woman who claimed to be from an insurance company around October last year.
Maria said the caller claimed that the victim had made four medical insurance claims at a hospital in Kuala Lumpur.
“However, the victim denied the matter until her call was connected to a man who claimed to be a sergeant from the Pudu Police Station.
“The suspect then told the victim that she had to clear her name for making false insurance claims before she was connected to another suspect who introduced himself as the Head of the Criminal Investigation Division.
“The victim was then instructed to contact another female suspect who was allegedly a police officer from Bukit Aman. At that time, the victim was also instructed to open a new bank account for police investigation,” she explained.
Maria said the victim eventually complied and followed the instructions of the suspects.
“After opening a new bank account, the victim was instructed to set up an online banking with a number given by the suspect.
“The victim was then asked to transfer all her savings, ASB and total loan money amounting to RM1.19 million to the new account,” she said in a statement today.
She added that the victim only came to the realisation that she had been cheated on Wednesday (April 13) and proceeded to lodge a police report.
“The victim only realised that she had been cheated after checking her bank account and found that the RM1.19 million was gone.
“Investigations found that all the money had been transferred to nine accounts in the name of unknown individuals through 52 transactions between Oct 28 and 29,” she said.
Further police investigations into the case are still underway. — DayakDaily
