KUCHING: Two individuals claim loss of more than RM377,000 in two separate Macau scams recently, says Sarawak Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) chief Supt Maria Rasid.
The first one, a 36-year-old female civil servant in Bau was scammed for RM241,556 since Jan 22.
“The scam started when she received a call from a someone claiming to be an officer from Cyberjaya Inland Revenue Board on Jan 22 via phone number 03-138348880,” said Maria In a statement yesterday.
She said the caller told the woman that her name was used to register a company in Kuantan, Pahang, which had an outstanding tax of 15 months.
A few moments later, a second caller introduced himself as a police personnel telling the woman that she had a police record for money laundering and drug smuggling activities.
The woman was also told that there was a bank account under her name, which was used for criminal activities, and had RM228,000 inside.
She was told to declare the money inside the bank account using an application purportedly linked to Bank Negara Malaysia.
“The woman followed all instructions and filled up her personal and banking details into the application,” said Maria.
The woman was also told to transfer her savings of RM26,000 in her Maybank account to CIMB bank for safe keeping.
She was also told to apply for a RM200,000 personal loan.
“The loan was approved on Feb 19, and she was told to transfer RM189,684 to her CIMB bank account. The woman only realised that she was scammed when she checked the account and found nothing inside.
“She then lodged a police report on March 2,” Maria said.
For the second case, Maria said it involved a male civil servant, 57, from Mukah who was scammed by a bogus police personnel calling himself ‘Inspector Khoo’ since Feb 6.
“The man received a call on Feb 6 from the inspector telling him that he was involved in a RM2.8 million money laundering case in Ipoh, Perak.”
The inspector also told the man that his name was used to open a bank account that was used by 17 individuals to launder their money.
The man was also told that the Ipoh High Court had issued a warrant of arrest against him.
“The inspector then told the man that he was able to ‘iron out things’ on condition that he paid him money,” said Maria.
The man then started to transfer a total of RM136,000 to the inspector (suspect) via six online transactions between Feb 8 and 25.
Even after the sixth transfer, the suspect kept on bugging him to transfer another RM71,000 to avoid him (victim) from being dragged to court in Kuching.
“Sensing that something was amiss, the civil servant stopped transferring any more money, and lodged a police report at Mukah police station,” Maria added.
Meanwhile, the CCID advised the public not to entertain anyone who makes threats via telephone for supposedly involvement in illegal activities such as drugs, money laundering or tax evasion.
“Just put down the phone and call the banks or agencies for clarification,” said Maria.
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