Teacher loses RM276,000 to scammer who posed as MOH official

Negeri Sembilan Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Supt Aibee Abd Ghani said a man claiming to be from the Ministry of Health (MOH) in Putrajaya telephoned the 41-year-old teacher early this month, telling her she had bought medicines in excessive amounts from the Ipoh Community Clinic in Perak from March 1 to 28.

"The call was then purportedly connected to the Perak police headquarters where there was a report showing her links to a man who has been jailed for cheating a bank.

"The woman was told there were 400 ATM debit cards in the man's house and one of them belonged to her," he said in a statement here today.

Aibee said the woman was also alleged to have taken RM273,000 from the man but the matter could be kept a secret to avoid getting arrested.

The woman was then connected to a so-called inspector who directed her to bank money into several accounts for purposes of checking by the Auditor-General, he said.

The woman banked in RM276,000 between April 11 and yesterday and only realised she had been conned when her calls to given numbers went unanswered.

Aibee said apart from using her own savings, the victim had also taken loans from banks and friends to make the payments.

In another case, a married couple, aged 69 and 64, were conned of RM30,000 after being convinced by an individual that they had won RM500,000 in a four-digit lottery in Bahau, Jempol.

"The couple went to Kuala Pilah Maybank in the individual's car and withdrew RM25,000 over the counter and RM5,000 via ATM," he said.

After handing over the money to the suspect inside the car, the couple were taken to a bank in Bahau and abandoned there, he added.