By Balqis Jazimah Zahari
IPOH: A government pensioner lost his savings amounting to RM585,904.22 after being tricked by a ‘phone scammer’ who claimed to be from an insurance company.
Perak Police Chief, Datuk Seri Mohd Yusri Hassan Basri said, the Hilir Perak District police received a police report from a victim, a 59-year-old government pensioner, stating that he had been duped by a ‘Phone scam’ fraud syndicate at 10.27am last Monday.
“As a result of interrogation, the victim confirmed that she was contacted by the suspect when the victim was at her home at 9.30am, 14 January last.
“The suspect using the phone number 017-3936642 then claimed to represent an insurance company and stated that the victim had an insurance claim at the KPJ Ampang hospital amounting to RM68,800,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Mohd Yusri said the victim had denied that he had arrears on the insurance payment because he had stopped the payment last February.
“The victim was then asked by the suspect to make a police report to deny the insurance claim claimed by the suspect and the phone call was connected to another suspect who claimed to be a police officer to investigate the case.
“The victim then boarded a vehicle to another location to avoid the conversation being known to family members as instructed by the suspect,” he said.
He said, the victim was then asked to transfer all the money to an account belonging to the victim and to provide all personal financial information to the suspect on the grounds that it was for the purpose of police investigation.
“The total money that has been collected into the victim’s account amounts to RM585,904.22. The money is the result of the victim’s pension, loan and savings.
“The victim realized that he had been cheated after finding that all the money was missing in the deposit when he wanted to make a withdrawal on March 28.
