SIBU: A 54-year-old woman who wanted to help the owner of a premises where she works, claimed that she lost RM3,000 to a scam perpetrated by an individual who disguised himself as the owner of the premises last Saturday.
According to Sibu district police chief ACP Stanley Jonathan Ringgit, the woman who sells food, received a phone call from a man who introduced himself as Kian Ngieng Association chairman and owner of the premises rented by her.
“In the conversation around 4pm on Saturday, the man requested the woman to lend money to him to be deposited into his account. He said it was for house repairs as he was having financial problems.
“The scammer also told the woman that his old phone number was not in use and so he was using a new number. It was a tactic to deceive the complainant,” he said when contacted yesterday.
According to Stanley, the complainant who sincerely wanted to help deposited RM3,000 into an account as instructed by the man.
“After completing the transaction, the woman had second thoughts for having deposited that much money into someone else’s account. She then tried to call the real chairman’s number and found out that the number was active.
“The real chairman told her that he never changed his phone number and he had no intention of borrowing money from her,” he said.
After realising that she had been scammed, she filed a police report.
The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code.
