MIRI: A total of RM10,340 in losses were suffered by two individuals due to phone scams, better known as the Macau Scam, in this division recently.
State Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) chief Supt Mustafa Kamal Gani Abdullah said the department received reports by the two individuals on the scam.
Mustafa said one of the individuals is a 28-year-old teacher.
“The victim was deceived by a male suspect who introduced himself as Nafi Ahmad from Kuala Terengganu Court. The suspect said the victim has outstanding credit card payment with Maybank amounting to RM10,580.88 because the victim’s personal information had been misused by others and he would submit the case to the Terengganu police headquarters (IPK).
“The victim later received a call from a man who introduced himself as Sjn Adli Arshad from IPK Terengganu saying that details of the victim’s identity had been exposed and misused by a third party to commit crimes related to drug smuggling and money laundering. The man also said action would be taken against the victim because of the case,” he said in a press statement yesterday.
Then the telephone line was connected to ‘Insp Samsul Anuar’ who said that he could help the victim in handling the drug smuggling and money laundering cases, provided that the victim provide all the relevant documents as well as his ATM card pin number.
“The victim was also ordered to send pictures of the front and back of his credit card via WhatsApp for Bank Negara reference.
“Subsequently, the victim was not allowed to make any financial transactions until he received a response from Bank Negara at 5pm.
“The victim realised that he had been cheated after reviewing his online banking account and found that RM4,120 had disappeared from his account. His credit card was also used by another person to make online purchase of RM4,500,” said Mustafa.
Meanwhile, in the second case, a 30-year-old unemployed man received a call via his landline phone at home from a man saying he had an outstanding credit payment at Hong Leong Bank in Malacca amounting to RM16,846.88, and the victim was advised to lodge a police report in Malacca.
After that, the telephone line was connected to a man who introduced himself as ‘Sjn Kamaruddin’ who later asked for the victim’s mobile phone number.
A few minutes later, the victim received a call from ‘Sjn Kamaruddin’ through his mobile phone and the telephone line was connected to an unidentified man, explained Mustafa.
“The third male suspect asked for the victim’s bank account number and online banking password. The victim, who did not suspect anything, provided the banking information as requested by the man,” he said.
“The victim was also intimidated by the suspect who gave him the choice of whether to surrender himself to the police in Malacca or plead guilty, or pay a bail of RM15,000. The victim was given until Aug 29 to pay the bail.
“The victim realised he was cheated after telling this to his mother and also found that RM1,720 had been transferred from his account to a third-party account,” he added.