MIRI: Two local men have fallen victims to a Macau scam syndicate. One of them is a school teacher. According to the state commercial crime chief Supt Mustafa Kamal Gani Abdullah both victims gave their banking details to get warrants for their arrest cancelled.
He said they received calls from individuals claiming to be policemen and court staff members who told them that they had outstanding credit card bills. “For the teacher, the scammers told him that he had outstanding credit card debt of RM10,580.88, while the second (unemployed) victim was told that he owed RM16,846.88,” said Mustafa.
Both men panicked and followed the instructions given by the callers. They ended up giving their personal and bank card details. They soon realised that they were duped after noticing that money in their accounts had disappeared mysteriously.
These two cases were among the 84 reported by the Police Commercial Crime Investigation Department for the eight-month period from January 1 to last August 28. “Some RM5.4 million has been lost to Macau scams,” said Mustafa. In 2018, 209 cases involving loses amounting to RM10.3 million were reported. So far this year 42 arrests were made. Last year there were 47 arrests.
