ALOR SETAR: A retired teacher lost RM100,000 to scammers who duped the victim into disclosing her banking information for investigation into a 'money laundering case'.
Kedah Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Superintendent Elias Omar said based on the victim's statement, she had received a phone call from an insurance agent on Jan 3 to inform that she had filed a claim for an accident case.
Elias said the victim denied that she had filed such a claim and was then directed to lodge an online report to the Pudu police station.
"The call was then forwarded to a sergeant at the Pudu police station for verification and the victim was told that she had involved in a money laundering case.
"She was asked to provide the 16 digit number of her ATM (automated teller machine) card and online banking particulars for further investigation.
"The suspect also told the victim that an arrest warrant had been issued against her and she was ordered to report to him via WhatsApp every two hours to avoid being arrested," he said in a statement.
Elias added that the victim was told to wait for three weeks for the investigations to be carried out.
However, the victim became suspicious and had a rude shock upon finding out that RM100,000 was missing from her saving account.
Checks revealed that the money was transferred to a third party's account in several transactions.
Elias said the case was being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating and police believed two men were behind the scam, with one of them being holder of the account which was used to receive the money transferred from the victim's account.
"We urge the public to contact relevant government agencies or banking institutions for verification when they received such calls from strangers.
"Before making any payment please check with http://ccid.rmp.gov.my>semakmule or contact CCIS Response Center at 03-26101559 /1599 for clarification," he said.
