KUCHING: A man lost a whopping RM807,623.15 after he was fell victim to a lottery prediction scam.
Kuching OCPD ACP Ahsmon Bajah said the victim had come across an advertisement on lottery number prediction while surfing the Internet on Sept 30 last year.
He then contacted a person by the name of Dr Benjamin, who had given him a lucky number to buy on a website given, www.poolmond.com
The victim was later informed that he had won USD360mil and the company instructed the victim to contact the website’s support centre to claim his winning prize.
“To transfer the winnings to the victim, an agent from the centre told the victim that he had to open an account at the Corniche Bank located in the United Kingdom.
“He was also instructed to pay the processing fee and without thinking twice, the victim transferred a sum of RM392,300 via 22 transactions to a local commercial bank account and another 18 transactions using overseas remittance services to be transferred to an overseas bank, which amounted to RM415,323.15.
“The victim realised that he had been scammed when none of the winnings were deposited into his Corniche Bank,” he said.
The victim then lodged a police report for further action yesterday.
The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code, which carries a jail term of up to 10 years, whipping and a fine, if convicted.
ACP Ahsmon advised the public to be vigilant before making any transaction to a third-party account.
“They should always check the recipient’s bank account number on the website http://ccid.rmp.gov.my/semakmule/
“If anyone is a victim of cyber crime and have made a transfer to any mule account or to a scam syndicate’s account, they can reach out to the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) on 997.”
