SEGAMAT: A woman suffered a loss of RM131,500 after being deceived by a scammer who impersonated a police officer from the Perak Police Contingent Headquarters (IPK).
The scammer accused her of being involved in money laundering activities last month.
Segamat district police deputy chief Superintendent Ng Swie Chait, said they received a complaint from the 52-year-old woman on Wednesday claiming to be a victim of online fraud.
"According to the victim, around last March, she received a phone call from an individual who introduced himself as a customer service officer from Pos Laju and informed her that there was a parcel registered under her name.
"The phone call was then transferred to the Perak Contingent Police Headquarters for case resolution. The woman dealt with a man who introduced himself as a police officer and claimed that she had a criminal record and was involved in money laundering," he said in a statement here today.
Ng said the victim was then connected to another call and spoke to a man who introduced himself as a senior police officer and stated that she would be arrested if she did not comply with his instructions.
He said the victim was then asked to file a report online and directed to follow all instructions given.
Due to fear and panic, he said, the victim followed the suspect's instructions by withdrawing her savings from her bank account and ensuring that the money was transferred to another bank account provided by the suspect.
"At first, the woman felt suspicious, but the suspect gave reasons that the savings transferred to those bank accounts were for the purpose of updating and cleaning up her bank account.
"The suspect also gave reasons that the owners of the bank accounts receiving financial input from the woman were auditors involved in assisting in settling cases on behalf of the victim as claimed," he said.
He further said that the victim was also asked to report her location and activities every one to two hours to the suspect via WhatsApp messages.
According to him, the victim finally realised that it was all a scam after telling her husband about the incident before making a police report.
Ng added that the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code and the police advised the public to always be vigilant and take precautionary measures, especially in financial transactions.
He also said that the public is advised to be aware of the latest trends in commercial crime by following the social media pages of the Commercial Crime Investigation Department such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
"The public is also encouraged to use online checking services through the website https://semakmule.rmp.gov.my/ before making any online payments or transactions, as well as to download the 'whoscall' application to reduce the risk of falling victim to scams," he said.
If you have become a victim of fraud, he said, contact the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) at 997 as soon as possible as an initial step to block the outflow of money from entering the suspect's account.
