Macau Scam claims another victim, retiree loses RM373,000

A 61-year-old female government retiree reported to police yesterday that she lost RM373,000 to the fraud syndicate since November last year.

Perlis Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Supt Wan Aedil Wan Abdullah related the details in a statement today.

He said the retiree reported having received a telephone call from a person claiming to represent an insurance company who stated that she had made a claim for medical treatment compensation on the basis of a road accident.

"She (the retiree) claimed that the call was transferred allegedly to an investigating officer at the Kuala Lumpur Commercial Crime Investigation Department by the name of Puan Yong who charged that she was involved in money laundering," he said.

Wan Aedil said the scammers instructed the retiree to deposit all her savings into one bank account and register the caller's telephone number to the account.

She was also instructed to transfer the money and provide details of the account to the scammer, he said, adding that online transactions were made subsequently without her knowledge.

"The money transfer transactions took place between November 2021 and April this year. The retiree became aware of these after finding out that the balance in the account had dwindled to RM124.20," he said.

He said he called for an investigation and it was learned that the two telephone numbers used had also been used in 25 scam cases elsewhere in the country.

Wan Aedil advised the public not to panic easily and fall for the modus operandi of these scammers but to conduct checks first.

"The public can check with the Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department via the CCID Scam Response Centre at 03-26101559 or 03-26101599," he said.