Teacher loses RM112,000 to love scam

Kedah Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Supt Elias Omar said the incident on June 29 began when, the man, a 51-year-old teacher, was conned over the phone by an individual claiming to be a Pos Malaysia staff.

"The suspect introduced himself as calling from Pos Malaysia and said that the victim had sent a package containing his (victim's) identity card and bank card before connecting him to another call.

"Another suspect, introducing himself as Insp Mazlan from the Seremban Contingent Police Headquarters informed the victim that he (the teacher) was involved in a drug trafficking syndicate and making money by illegal means," Elias said in a statement here today.

After that, the victim was put on to another phone call where another suspect introduced himself as Insp Chong who offered to help the victim resolve the case and demanded payment.

According to Elias, the teacher, worried that he might have committed a serious offence and who was also afraid that the school might find out then transferred the money in stages from the same day (June 29) to July 3, involving 37 transactions to four bank accounts.

"On July 6, the victim received a phone call from an unidentified man who informed the victim that he had been convicted by the court and the suspect had asked the victim for RM100,000 for bail, but the victim began to have doubts and realised he had been duped," he said.

Elias said the RM333,000 lost in the Macau Scam was the highest recorded in Kedah this month and the case was being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code.

"Police are advising the public not to be fooled by phone calls from strangers who claim to be authorities and to always check first the validity of the information received," he said.