No matter whether you’re young, old, poor, or rich, scammers are constantly on the prowl in marking their next victim and setting up an elaborate scheme to cheat them of their money.
A senior citizen lost more than a whopping RM3 million to a phone scam after she was tricked into thinking that she was involved in illegal activities.
70yo M’sian woman loses over RM3mil in phone scam
According to a statement by Selangor police chief Datuk Hussein Omar Khan, he said the 70-year-old woman as contacted by a suspect who claimed to be an insurance agent last November, reported Sinar Harian.
When the ‘agent’ told the victim that she had an insurance claim made under her name, she denied it and the call was transferred to ‘police’.
“In the call, the ‘police’ informed the victim that her name was found to be involved in money laundering activities.
“Afraid that she would be arrested, the victim obediently followed the instructions given by the suspect, who told her to open a new bank account and register a phone number given by him for online banking transactions.
“She was then told to provide the account number for ‘investigation purposes’ and to transfer all her money into the account. She was also barred from accessing it for the next few months,” he said.
It wasn’t until the victim discovered that her bank account had a balance of RM79.59 following a review on Wednesday (Sept 13) did she finally realise that she had been deceived.
Hussein said the victim suffered a loss of RM3.83 million after her retirement funds, fixed deposits, trust accounts, and gold she had pawned were transferred into the fraudulent bank account.
The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating and Hussein reminded the public that no transferring of calls can be made between agencies, companies, or government departments.
