ALOR GAJAH: A retail trader suffered losses amounting to RM922,300.87 after falling victim to a phone scam syndicate that posed as the police.
Alor Gajah district police chief, Superintendent Arshad Abu, said the victim, in his 50s, received a call from a suspect purportedly claiming to be one Sergeant Tan, a police officer from Perak in early December last year.
The suspect, who resides in Simpang Ampat, alleged that there was a case involving the manager of a bank who had resigned and was engaged in fraudulent activities using the victim's bank account.
"The suspect instructed the victim to follow all the instructions given to avoid arrest. The victim was asked to leave his ATM bank card and bank account number without having to meet the suspect at a location in Simpang Ampang on December 20," he said in a statement today (January 10).
On January 3, the victim was directed to open a bank cheque in the name of a company owned by the suspect for RM420,000 and deposit the cheque into a bank cheque machine in the district.
Arshad added that six days later, the victim discovered that several transfers had been made from his account to an unknown account, totalling RM502,300.87, between December 21 last year, and January 8 this year.
He said that the victim received another call on January 9, asking him to make another transfer, which he did not comply with as he realised he had been scammed. The victim lodged a police report yesterday (January 9). — Bernama
