MIRI: Two individuals, one in Miri and another in Sibu, have fallen victim to a Macau scam syndicate.
Total loss involved was RM92,000. Reports of the two incidents was lodged Tuesday.
Sarawak Commercial Crime Investigatiom Department (CCID) chief Supt Mustafa Kamal Gani Abdullah said the first case involved a female administrative assistant aged 57 from Sibu.
He said the victim had received a call from a woman who introduced herself as ‘Intandiana Osman’ from Melaka Magistrate Court.
The caller had claimed that the victim had accumulated debt amounting to RM16,840.
“She was asked to call ‘Sjn Chan’ to lodge an online report on the debt,” said Supt Mustafa.
The victim was instructed by ‘Sjn Chan’ to pay cash amounting to RM3,000 as a collateral to Bank Negara.
Meanwhile, in Miri, the victim was a 58-year-old factory supervisor.
The victim reportedly lost cash totaling RM 89,000 to the scam.
After receiving a call from an individual who claimed to be a police inspector, he was told that he had unpaid loan amounting to RM70,000.
The factory supervisor panicked and made a total of five transactions from July 9 to July 26.
However, he later realised that it was a scam and lodged a police report.
Supt Mustafa disclosed that for the period of January 1 until July 30, a total of 66 Macau scam cases in Sarawak were reported. Total loss involved was RM4.18 million, compared to 86 cases (RM5.74 million) for the corresponding period the year before.
He added that 19 people were arrested (for January 1 to July 30 this year), compared to only nine detained in the previous year.
