By Balqis Jazimah Zahari
Photo Illustration
HUTAN MELINTANG: A company suffered losses amounting to RM124,450 after being deceived by a ‘phone scam’.
Chief of Police Perak, Datuk Seri Mohd Yusri Hassan Basri, stated that around 4.15 pm yesterday, police received a report from a 55-year-old local man who is also a businessman in Hutan Melintang.
“The complainant stated that his company clerk had been deceived by a ‘phone scam’ syndicate posing as him, instructing to withdraw company funds.
“Upon initial investigation, police found that on May 8th around 1.50 pm, while working at the complainant’s company, clerk received a WhatsApp message from complainant’s phone number instructing to transfer RM30,000 from the company’s account to an unknown recipient.
“The complainant’s son approved the transaction assuming it was directed by his father,” he said in a statement today.
Mohd Yusri mentioned that on May 9th around 1.45 pm, the company clerk once again made a transfer of RM8,000 to a different account.
“On the same day, three more transactions totaling RM86,450 were made by the clerk in the complainant’s company located in Gopeng to two different accounts.
“The complainant only realized his phone number had been compromised when he was in Hat Yai, Thailand yesterday when his friend contacted him asking if he had financial problems because he requested to borrow money,” he said.
He stated that the complainant never instructed any money transfers or asked to borrow money from his friends.
“After investigation, the complainant found that there were five transfers from his company account to three different accounts totaling RM124,450.
“The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code (cheating) and investigations are ongoing,” he said.
He advised the public not to easily fall for phone scam tricks.
