MELAKA: A housewife here was cheated out of RM2.08 million by a Macau scam syndicate member, posing as a police officer with the title of ‘Datuk’, who claimed that she was involved in drug dealing and money laundering.
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The incident unfolded on Jan 10 when the woman, 49, received a call from the individual claiming to be from the Pahang contingent police headquarters.
He said the ‘dirty’ money was from her own savings and inherited from her family.
“Using the WhatsApp application, the suspect showed the victim her arrest warrant and a letter to freeze her assets, before instructing her to divulge her bank account details for investigation purposes. Frightened, she conformed.
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“The victim also provided the six-digit one-time password (OTP) to the suspect.
“(But she later) became suspicious and referred the matter to the bank,” Melaka Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Superintendent E. Sundra Rajan said in a statement.
He said the bank informed her that there had been 164 online transfers carried out through ‘DuitNow’, amounting to RM2.08 million, to 16 different bank accounts. She then lodged a police report.
He said police checks through the http://ccid.rmp.gov.my/semakmule website revealed that the suspect’s phone number, 014-7410772, was also involved in 13 other reports using the same modus operandi, adding that the case would be investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating. – BERNAMA