Elderly Woman Loses Over RM300,000 To Phone Scam

IPOH, Dec 28 (Bernama) -- An elderly woman suffered a loss of RM318,521 after being duped by a phone scam syndicate impersonating the authorities.

Taiping district police chief ACP Mohamad Nasir Ismail said the 74-year-old victim, a government retiree, lodged a police report at approximately 2 pm on Friday.

Initial investigations revealed that the victim received a phone call on Dec 2 from a man claiming to be a representative of Tenaga Nasional Berhad.

"The man claimed that someone had used the victim's name to register an electricity meter for a house in Kuantan, Pahang, and the victim was asked to make a police report in Kuantan," he said in a statement.

Mohamad Nasir said the suspect offered to make a police report since the victim was in Taiping, Perak, and the victim agreed to be connected to a caller impersonating a police officer.

Mohamad Nasir said the suspect informed the victim that she was involved in a money laundering case and instructed her to cooperate with the police by following their directions.

"The victim was asked to provide her personal information and disclose all the money and jewellery she owned for investigation purposes," he said.

He also said the victim was contacted by another man who instructed her to wrap her ATM card and all her jewellery and place this package at a junction near her home.

“The victim was asked to list her movements from Dec 10 to 23, and was also asked to provide her ATM card password for investigation purposes.

"Because the victim was in a state of fear, the victim followed all instructions given and transferred Amanah Saham Bumiputera funds into his (suspect) bank account, as well as provided information about her Tabung Haji account as instructed," he said.

Mohamad Nasir also said the victim had checked her bank account and Tabung Haji account, and found that all the money in these accounts was not there on Dec 23.

"The bank's review revealed that the victim did not make the transactions, and the victim suspected the money transactions in her account were carried out by the scammers," he said, adding that the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.

-- BERNAMA