IPOH: A government retiree lost RM186,450 after being duped by a phone scam last Thursday (Aug 24), Taiping district police chief ACP Razlam Ab Hamid said.
The man, 42, lodged a police report about the matter at around 6.24 pm yesterday, stating he had received a phone call from the number 012-2334005 from an unknown male claiming to be an officer from the Kuala Lumpur post office.
"The first suspect, posing as the post officer, claimed that there was a parcel containing the victim’s identification card and several credit cards to be sent to Sarawak,” he said, adding that the victim was then directed by the first suspect to lodge an online complaint with the Melaka district police headquarters after he denied knowing about the package.
The first suspect then connected the call to the second suspect, who claimed to be a police officer with a ‘Datuk’ title, and proceeded to inform the victim that he had to transfer as much as RM146,450 to an account provided by the suspect for investigation purposes.
The victim was in a state of panic and confusion so he complied and made 38 transactions to six bank accounts totalling RM186,450 from last Thursday till yesterday.
He was then told by the second suspect that he would be contacted after the investigation was completed within 30 minutes, but realised he had been scammed after he did not receive a call and the number was blocked when he decided to call.
Razlam added that the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code.
