A retiree lost more than RM50,000 after falling victim to Macau Scam last Thursday (March 3rd).
According to Malay Mail, ACP Ahmad Adnan Basri of the Hilir Perak police department, the 61-year-old man received a call from someone claiming to be from Telekom Malaysia and informed him that he owed money on his phone bill.
Photo via The Star
“The victim denied and claimed that someone else was using his name and phone number, and that the call was routed to a person who identified himself as a sergeant in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.
“The suspect claimed he checked the system and discovered the victim was involved in money laundering,” he said.
The victim was then directed to an “officer” at Bukit Aman police headquarters who pretended to be Datuk Reduan.
He was urged to withdraw his money and provide the bank account details of his wife as soon as he was connected to Datuk Reduan to settle the situation, including for inspection by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).
“Datuk Reduan stated that he intended to assist the victim and requested the victim’s and his wife’s bank account information as well as the transfer of their funds to other accounts for BNM scrutiny.”
The suspect then gained control of the bank account and transferred RM57,200 from the victim and his wife to an unidentified third party account.
The victim eventually realized he had been tricked by a syndicate and filed a police report, which was probed under Section 420 of the Penal Code.
Scammers can sometimes be very convincing, so please do not fall into their trap. Always be careful and informed.
Also, here’s a tip on how you can protect yourself from scammers!
How to Protect Yourself from Macau Scams
Macau scams are notorious in Malaysia. Some scammers are so savvy they can spoof their caller IDs, to pretend to be calling from an actual institution. Here’s how you can protect yourself from falling victim to Macau scams.
Posted by SYOK.my on Thursday, October 29, 2020
Stay safe, guys!
By: Aishah Akashah Ahadiat
