A RETIRED bank manager has lost RM680,781 after falling victim to a phone scam in which fraudsters posed as cyber security officials and police officers, the Penang police confirmed today.
The 80-year-old man lodged a report on the incident yesterday with the Commercial Crime Investigation Division at the Northeast District Police Headquarters, according to Penang Deputy Police Chief Datuk Mohd Alwi Zainal Abidin.
“The victim received a call on 12 June from a man claiming to be a representative of ‘Cyber Security Putrajaya’, who alleged that the victim’s phone number had been blacklisted for disseminating false information,” said Mohd Alwi in a statement.
The call was then purportedly redirected to someone posing as a police officer from Alor Setar Police Station, who told the victim that his bank account was allegedly linked to money laundering activities. The scammer instructed the man to open new bank accounts to ‘clear his name’ and avoid arrest.
In total, the victim opened two new bank accounts and carried out four separate transfers between 19 and 23 June amounting to RM680,781.
According to police, the victim was further instructed to place all his ATM and credit cards, along with account opening slips, into an envelope and leave it on a Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) substation box near a bank in Tanjung Bunga.
On 26 June, the victim checked all three of his bank accounts and discovered that the money had been transferred to third-party accounts.
Police are investigating the case under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating. - July 7, 2025
