ALOR STAR – A public university student and a civil servant in the state lost RM38,000 and RM34,500 respectively after falling victims to Macau and parcel scam syndicates.
Kedah contingent police headquarters commercial crime investigation department head Elias Omar said that in the first case, the 22-year-old student from Baling initially received a phone call from an individual claiming to be an officer at the Negri Sembilan post office on January 9.
“The suspect told the victim about a package containing several identity cards and bank ATM cards allegedly sent by the victim from Kedah to Negri Sembilan.
“After the victim denied the package was his, the victim was instructed to lodge a police report online and connected to another suspect who claimed to be a police officer from the Seremban police headquarters,” he said in a statement here today.
Elias said the victim was later informed by the suspect that he was involved in a money laundering case and was asked to submit banking information supposedly for investigation purposes where RM27,000 was later transferred from the victim’s account to a third party account.
“The suspect also told the victim that an arrest warrant had been issued against the victim and to prevent the victim from being arrested, a payment of RM2,000 per day for a period of six days must be made.
“The victim made the payment through 11 transactions amounting to RM11,000,” he said.
According to Elias, the victim lost RM38,000 which included his RM27,000 savings and RM11,000 belonging to his mother, taken without her knowledge.
For the second case involving a civil servant, Elias said the victim, a 34-year-old woman, lost RM34,500 after meeting a Vietnamese man named “Tony Nguyen” through the Tagged app on January 9.
He said the victim, who was married and had two children, often contacted the suspect through the Line app and on January 15, the suspect told the victim he wanted to send a number of items such as money, shoes, clothes, and bags as a sign of introduction.
“Three days later, the victim received an email allegedly from the courier company stating that the goods had arrived at Sultan Abdul Halim Airport here, and the victim had to pay tax and customs charges,” he said.
He said the victim then made payment through an ATM machine at a bank in Pendang to three third party accounts in stages amounting to a total of RM34,500.
Elias said the two victims, who realised they had been duped, had lodged a police report on January 20 and both cases were being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code.
He advised the public not to be easily fooled by fraud syndicates and to be vigilant before submitting any personal information online to unknown individuals. – Bernama, January 21, 2021
