By Wendy John
SIBU, Dec 19: A teacher lost a total of RM143,900 in a Macau scam.
Sibu OCPD Asst Comm Stanley Jonathan Ringgit said the scammers had easily tricked the victims into transferring their hard earned money because of a fear tactic the scammers had deployed.
The 45-year-old teacher of a secondary school, had about 2pm on Dec 15 received a call from a man who claimed he was from the post office.
“The man told her that there was a parcel with her identity card and several credit cards,” he said.
The call was subsequently transferred to a woman by the name of ‘Camelia’ who told her that the matter was a serious one. She then claimed that she was transferring the line to a police officer, ‘Sgt Teo’.
“‘Sgt Teo’ accused her of drug trafficking and money laundering after he had reviewed her identity card and the credit cards as placed in the parcel. He advised her to transfer all her money to an account of an auditor so as to clear her name,” he said.
The victim did as told, making 10 transfers to an account totalling RM143,900.
Meanwhile in another Macau scam case, Stanley said a 44-year old clerk had on Dec 11 received a call from a man from “Pos Laju Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.”
“The victim was told that a parcel with her identity card and also credit card had been sent from Kota Kinabalu to Kuantan. A ‘police officer from Sabah’ took over the line and informed her that a special team was now in Sibu to arrest her for money laundering and drug trafficking. She was also advised not to reveal anything to anyone,” he added.
Stanley said the victim was also advised to buy a new handphone as it was not safe to talk using landline.
“She subsequently bought a new handphone. The suspect again threatened that she would be arrested and be imprisoned for three years in a prison in Sabah,” he said.
The victim, he said, felt scared and was also worried for the safety of her family.
She opened a new bank account and registered her phone number as directed by the suspect if she wanted no action to be taken against her.
After that she transferred all her RM66,070 savings to the new account.
Stanley said the two cases were being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.—DayakDaily
