Macau Scam: Teacher loses RM115k

ALOR SETAR: A female teacher lost RM115,000 to a ‘Macau Scam’ syndicate, after being duped into believing she was allegedly involved in money laundering and drug trafficking activities.

Kedah Contingent Police Headquarters Commercial Crime Investigation Department head, Supt Elias Omar said the 41-year-old victim, who lives in Kulim, initially received a phone call from an unknown individual on Feb 7.

“She was contacted by a man who introduced himself as an Inland Revenue Board (IRB) officer regarding her company’s tax arrears. The call was then connected to another man who claimed to be a police inspector from the Pahang Police Contingent Headquarters.

“Next, the victim was connected to another suspect who claimed to be a police officer with the rank of Datuk from the same IPK and the suspect instructed the victim to open the Whatsapp application before receiving a message with a notice claiming that the victim was involved in illegal activities,” he said in a statement here, Thursday.

He said the next day, the victim had gone to apply for a personal loan amounting to RM133,080 at Bank Rakyat after being instructed by the suspect.

“The victim was instructed to open the software link provided and upload the MyBNM application to fill in personal and banking information for further investigation and on Feb 15, the victim contacted the suspect informing that her loan money had been credited into her account.

“On Feb 16, the victim tried to access her online banking account but it was blocked,” he said.

He said the woman then contacted the bank’s customer service line and was informed that there had been transactions amounting to RM115,000 into three different accounts.

He said the victim who realised she had been cheated had lodged a police report in Kulim, yesterday and an investigation paper was opened under Section 420 of the Penal Code.