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SEREMBAN – A female teacher in Negri Sembilan has been cheated of RM276,000 in a Macau scam, after being told that she had bought excessive amounts of medicines from a government clinic, police said.
Negri Sembilan Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Aibee Abd Ghani said a man claiming to be from the Health Ministry in Putrajaya telephoned the 41-year-old teacher earlier this month, telling her she had bought medicines in excessive amounts from the Ipoh Community Clinic in Perak from March 1 to 28.
“The call was then purportedly connected to the Perak police headquarters where there was a report showing her links to a man who has been jailed for cheating a bank.
“The woman was told there were 400 ATM debit cards in the man’s house and one of them belonged to her,” Aibee said in a statement here today.
Aibee said the woman was told by the scammer that she was alleged to have taken RM273,000 from the man but the matter could be kept secret to avoid her getting arrested.
The woman was then connected to a so-called inspector who directed her to transfer money into several accounts, purportedly for checking by the auditor-general, he said.
The woman banked in RM276,000 between April 11 and yesterday, and only realised she had been conned when her calls to numbers given by the scammers went unanswered.
Aibee said apart from using her own savings, the victim had also taken loans from banks and friends to make the payments.
In another case, a married couple, aged 69 and 64, were conned of RM30,000 after being convinced by an individual that they had won RM500,000 in a four-digit lottery in Bahau, Jempol.
“The couple went to Kuala Pilah Maybank in the individual’s car and withdrew RM25,000 over the counter and RM5,000 via ATM,” he said.
After handing over the money to the suspect inside the car, the couple were taken to a bank in Bahau and abandoned there, he added. – Bernama, April 30, 2022