NGO OFFICER POORER BY OVER RM170,000, FALLING FOR PHONE SCARE SCAM

IPOH, June 28 (Bernama) -- A community service officer of a non-governmental organisation in Taiping lost RM177,700 to a phone scam on June 12, despite repeated police warning of the scheme which frightens a victim into submission.

Perak police chief Datuk Seri Mohd Yusri Hassan Basri said the victim this time was a 72-year-old man who answered a call from an unknown number at 2.30 pm on that day.

“The first caller baited the victim by urging him to go to the Ipoh district police headquarters (IPD) because his account was involved in illegal activities of money laundering.

“The victim then told the caller that he was unable to do so and denied being involved in illegal activities,” he said today.

Mohd Yusri said right after that, the victim was connected to a ‘police IPD line’ whereupon a second caller persuaded him to provide his ATM card number and pin for further review.

“The victim was then instructed to hand over the OTP number to the second caller who said he would transfer money out from the victim’s account but assured that it would be returned after police investigation.

“In a state of high anxiety and fear, the victim obeyed the second suspect,” he said.

Mohd Yusri said when the victim went to a bank in Taiping yesterday to check, he saw five suspicious transactions involving RM177,700 transferred to an unknown nominee and different bank accounts.

“The victim realised he had been cheated when the second caller cut him off and subsequently made a police report yesterday,” he said.

He said the case was investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code and called on the public to always be wary of the trend of phone fraud syndicates that have become prevalent.

-- BERNAMA