By: Aida Aziz
IPOH, Malaysia – A retired woman has suffered a loss of RM1.4 million after falling victim to a phone scam perpetrated by individuals posing as a courier company employee and a police officer for the past three years.
According to the Perak State Police Chief, Datuk Seri Mohd Yusri Hassan Basri, police investigations revealed that the 62-year-old victim was deceived by these individuals in March 2020. They initiated phone calls, claiming that her parcel was experiencing issues.
“Perak police received a report from the woman on September 12 (yesterday) regarding this case.
“On March 27, 2020, while the victim was at her home in Taman Wah Keong, she received a phone call from an unknown individual.
“The suspect introduced themselves as a courier company employee and deceived the victim into believing that she had a problematic package.
“Subsequently, the victim confirmed with a fake phone number purportedly from the Sabah Contingent Police Headquarters, as provided by the courier company employee,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.
Mohd Yusri stated that the individual impersonating a police officer informed the victim that she was involved in a money laundering and drug-related crime case.
Furthermore, the victim was shown court arrest warrants in her name, which led her to believe the matter.
“Throughout the victim’s dealings with the ‘Sabah Contingent Police Headquarters,’ she communicated with five suspects posing as police officers with different personas.
“The victim disclosed all sensitive information about her bank accounts and digital wallet accounts to all suspects and followed their instructions to transfer money to various bank accounts belonging to other individuals,” he added.
Moreover, the victim only realized the scam after waiting for a long time, expecting one of the suspects to meet her in Ipoh since 2020.
As a result, the victim incurred a loss of approximately RM1,417,019.84 in both cash and USDT.
He further noted that the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code.
“In light of this, Perak police once again warn the general public to always be cautious of suspicious phone calls.
“Especially phone calls claiming to be from government agencies. The public is reminded that government agencies will not request personal bank account information from the public, nor ask the public to transfer or make payments to other bank accounts,” he said.
The public can verify bank accounts and phone numbers possibly involved in fraud cases through the link HTTPS://SEMAKMULE.RMP.GOV.MY.
