IPOH: Perak police busted a four-digit lottery scam after detaining a bogus Siamese medium (bomoh) who has been deceiving members of the public by giving away ‘winning four-digit’ numbers.
Perak Police chief Datuk Mohd Shukri Dahlan said based on information from the public, a 30-year-old suspect was detained in Alor Setar, Kedah on March 27, for deceiving four people in Taiping and Manjung.
“The suspect was also believed to have cheated people in Negeri Sembilan, Johor, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor of a hefty sum of money. The money was banked into the suspect’s account,” he told reporters, here yesterday.
Mohd Shukri said the modus operandi of the suspect was to distribute fliers to houses of would-be victims, claiming they can win money through four-digit numbers with the help of a Siamese bomoh.
“When the would-be victims contacted the telephone number on the fliers, the suspect would first act as the bomoh’s assistant and later as the bomoh.
“The suspect will then ask his victims to bank a certain amount of money into his bank account, purportedly for prayer expenses. Once the money has been banked in, the suspect will try to avoid their calls, giving various excuses,” he said.
Shukri said police believe the suspect has been involved in the scam since 2005 and have not ruled out the possibility of the suspect’s involvement in other scams.
He added that two of the suspect’s four luxury cars – a Honda Accord and a BMW M5 Sport – believed to have been bought from his illegal gains, were seized while police have started investigations to find a Subaru Imprezza and Nissan Skyline, that also belong to the suspect, he said.
Apart from the two cars, police also seized six handphones, 10 ATM Bank cards and RM1,650 cash.
“People should not be greedy or believe in ‘bomoh’ to give them winning four-digit numbers. Syndicates will always be ready to pounce on vulnerable people who seek easy money,” Shukri said. — Bernama