Elderly woman loses more than RM1 million of life savings to Macau Scam

KUALA LUMPUR: A 74-year-old retiree lost more than a million ringgit of her savings after falling victim to a Macau scam syndicate.

The elderly woman received a call on Sept 25 last year, purportedly from Pos Malaysia headquarters saying that they were holding a package containing an Identification Card (IC), a cheque book, and three bank cards under her name.

Petaling Jaya District Police chief ACP Nik Ezanee Mohd Faisal said during the call was then transferred to a man who introduced himself Sergeant Fairul from Sabah Contingent Police Headquarters and told the woman that she was involved in money laundering case and was under investigation.

He said the call was again transferred to another “policeman” named Si Wan, who threatened the victim by saying that would be arrested and remanded if she refused to cooperate throughout “their investigations”.

“Frightened, the victim obeyed all orders by the scammers and gave away her bank account information to Si Wan, and transferred RM833,000 from her Tabung Haji account into her Maybank account,” he said in a statement today.

Nik Ezanee said on Oct 5, 2020, Si Wan asked the woman to hand over her Maybank card, which he claimed that is needed to withdraw the money for auditing purposes in the money laundering case she was supposedly under investigation for.

He said on Oct 6, 2020, following Si Wan’s instructions over the phone, the victim went to Atria Shopping Mall and had placed her Maybank card on top of a letterbox as instructed.

“On Oct 28, 2020, the victim conducted several transactions by transferring RM75,000 from her CIMB Bank account into her Maybank account, and four more transactions occurred as she transferred another RM84,500 into her Maybank account,” he said.

He added that the elderly victim had incurred losses estimated up to a total of about RM1,007,673.33 due to this syndicate that often targets the elderly who lack knowledge and exposure on today’s cybercrime.

-- BERNAMA