KUALA LUMPUR: A 52-year-old civil servant became the latest victim of phone scammers after he lost over RM710,000 to them.
The victim had been tricked into believing he had run foul of the law.
Kuala Lumpur police commercial crimes investigations department (CCID) head ACP Mohd Mahidisham Ishak said the victim had lodged a police report on the loss on Saturday.
He said the civil servant received a call from a scammer who claimed to be a “court officer” and alleged that the victim is being investigated for corruption and money-laundering activities.
Mohd Mahidisham said the scammer then transfered the call to a “policeman” who “advised the victim to transfer all his funds to several bank accounts to facilitate investigations.”
He said fearing repercussions, the victim did as he was told and moved RM711,626 to 13 different bank accounts provided by the scammers in 74 transactions.
Mohd Mahidisham said later the victim lodged a police report on sensing he had been cheated.
He advised the public to be constantly watchful of such calls from scammers and not fall victim to it.
Those with information on such activities may contact the KL police hotline at 03-2146 0584/0585 or the CCID Scam Response Centre at 03-2610 1559/1599 and the Whatsapp CCID Infoline at 013-2111 222.