ELDERLY WOMAN LOSES OVER HALF A MILLION RINGGIT TO 'NSRC OFFICER'

JOHOR BAHRU, June 19 (Bernama) -- A woman senior citizen lost RM584,000 after being duped by a "phone scam" syndicate, early last month.

Johor police chief CP M Kumar said the 70-year-old woman received a phone call from an individual introducing himself as an officer of the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) claiming that she has a fraud criminal record.

He said the victim was then contacted by an individual posing as a police officer from the north of the country to inform her that there was a bank account opened in the victim's name in the state, but she denied it.

"However, the suspect convinced the victim to provide details of all the accounts she owned for the purpose of investigation, then she followed the suspect's instructions by placing the ATM card of one of her bank accounts and the pin number at a location.

"The victim was then ordered to transfer money from several of her other savings accounts to the bank account (ATM card) that was handed over, amounting to almost RM600,000 for 'investigation'," he said in a statement today.

Kumar said the victim checked with the bank recently and found that the money handed over to the suspect had been reduced by RM584,000, and it was found that there was a withdrawal transaction through an ATM besides a money transfer to an unknown nominee.

"The victim suspected that she had been cheated before making a police report last Monday (June 17) and the case was investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code," he said.

At the same time, he also reminded the public that NSRC is a centre that only receives calls from the public which is a one-way communication.

"Therefore, in order to optimise efforts to eradicate and prevent online fraud crimes, immediately contact the NSRC on 997 so that the chances of blocking money that has been transferred are higher.

"In addition, also get the latest information on commercial crime modus operandi through Facebook, Instagram and TikTok of the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID)," he added.

-- BERNAMA