SIBU, March 29: A university student and a female shop assistant lost a total of RM18,700 in two separate scams.
Acting Sibu District Police Chief Superintendent Dr Collin Babat said in the first case, the 26-year-old student was deceived in a Macau scam.
On March 26, the student received a call from a man who identified himself as a tax operation officer from the Cyberjaya headquarters.
“The student was threatened to believe that his name had been used to register a company with tax arrears amounting to RM36,600,” he said.
When the victim denied this, the line was purportedly connected to a “police officer” with the rank of sergeant who advised the student to lodge a police report.
“Subsequently he (the victim) contacted a ‘Mr Hadi’ from “Bank Negara” who asked him to transfer all his savings to another bank account so as to protect his money from being frozen by the authorities,” Collin said.
The student then made two transfers to his Bank Islam account amounting to RM11,200.
“The complainant also gave his bank details apart from sharing the account password with the suspect and was instructed to wait for a call from the police for further action.
When the complainant contacted Bank Islam’s customer service centre, he was informed by the bank that his money of RM11,200 had been transferred to another account.
In the second case, a 24-year-old female shop assistant lost RM7,500 after being tricked by a woman who claimed to a senior officer from the Inland Revenue Board.
The shop assistant was told that she had tax arrears amounting to RM38,800.
“Fearing that her name would be blacklisted, the complainant followed the suspect’s instructions to transfer a sum of RM7,500 to a bank account for the purpose of ensuring that the money was not from money laundering,” he said.
However, the victim realised that she had been deceived after the suspect failed to explain the status of her case. The suspect also gave various reasons about the status of the case.
Both cases are being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating. — DayakDaily
