BINTULU: A woman teacher here told police that she had lost RM284,800 in savings and money from pawned jewellery to a Macau scam syndicate.
Bintulu police chief Supt Batholomew Umpit said the 42-year-old woman received a phone call on Jan 14 from an unknown individual claiming to be a representative of Etiqa insurance.
She was informed that she had claimed accident insurance amounting to RM68,000, which she denied.
“She was then connected to another individual who claimed to be a policeman at Pudu police station.
“He accused the teacher that she had been involved in money laundering and that her name had been used to open 25 bank accounts, one of which had been frozen.
“In order to solve the issue, the victim was asked to deal with a ‘public prosecutor’ and his subordinates,” he said, adding that the victim’s name will be cleared if she complied with the instructions.
Batholomew stated that the victim was instructed to open an account at Bank Rakyat, change her ATM card and get a new phone number for registration.
After doing so, she deposited a sum of RM284,800 from her ASB savings and pawned jewellery into the Bank Rakyat account.
He pointed out that the victim only realised she had been cheated after receiving a letter from the bank that her account was frozen due to suspicious activity.
On July 15, the victim went to Bank Rakyat here and found that the account balance was only RM72.43.
The public can check any suspicious phone numbers and bank account through the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) Check Scammers or through the Semak Mule website at http://semakmule.rmp.gov.my.
