A CIVIL servant in Hulu Terengganu has suffered financial losses totalling RM119,000 after allegedly being deceived by a phone scam syndicate that used impersonation and threats of arrest to pressure the victim into transferring large sums of money
Hulu Terengganu police chief Superintendent Sharudin Abdul Wahab said the 43-year-old victim lodged a police report at the Kuala Berang police station at about 12.29am on Monday.
According to Sharudin, the incident began on Nov 16 at about 10am while the victim was travelling to Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital in Kuala Terengganu.
The victim received a phone call from a woman who introduced herself as Siti Hajar Ahmad, claiming to be from the headquarters of an insurance company in Kuala Lumpur.
He said the caller alleged that the victim had made three insurance claims amounting to RM68,800, which the victim denied.
“The victim was then supposedly connected to a man claiming to be Sergeant Suhaidi Ahmad from the Petaling Jaya district police headquarters, who alleged that the victim was involved in money laundering and instructed the victim to delete social media applications,” Sharudin said.
The victim complied before being connected to another individual who claimed to be Inspector Yuswadi from the Criminal Investigation Department. This individual allegedly told the victim that his identity card had been misused in previous bank loan applications.
Sharudin said the victim was later connected to a woman who claimed to be a deputy public prosecutor.
According to him, the syndicate demanded RM188,000 from the victim to prevent an arrest warrant from being issued and to avoid the seizure of assets.
On Nov 27, the victim applied for a bank loan on the advice of the individuals involved, purportedly to pay for a postponement of the arrest warrant.
Sharudin said the bank approved a loan of RM150,000 on Dec 17, after which the victim was instructed to transfer RM110,000 into a newly opened personal bank account.
“On Dec 10, the victim checked his bank account and discovered three unauthorised transactions totalling RM100,000,” he said.
At the same time, Sharudin said the victim also took out a loan of RM21,000 from a licensed moneylender as the amount demanded by the syndicate was still insufficient, and subsequently transferred RM19,000 through a bank account.
The total losses suffered amounted to RM119,000 before the victim came forward to lodge a police report.
Sharudin said the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating. - January 14, 2026
