The victim was told to open new bank accounts and then destroy and discard the three ATM cards, police said.
PETALING JAYA: A 55-year-old woman has suffered losses amounting to RM1.18 million after falling victim to the “Macau Scam ” recently, police said.
The woman transferred money from her EPF and bank account amounting to RM881,000 and RM300,000 respectively into three new bank accounts which were cleaned out by an unknown person.
She lodged a report saying she had been informed that she was the subject of a purported investigation into money laundering.
Sarawak police commissioner Azman Ahmad Sapri said she received a phone call on May 22 from an unknown man from Putrajaya who claimed she had registered a phone number in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, to slander the health ministry.
The call was then transferred to two persons claiming to be a “Sergeant Wong” and an “Inspector Khoo” from Kota Kinabalu, who said she was suspected to be involved in money laundering.
“She was told that Bank Negara wanted to check her funds and she was required to transfer the money to new bank accounts for the investigation,” he said in a statement today.
Azman said the victim panicked and opened three bank accounts in Bintulu on May 23 and June 9 and transferred the money.
She was also instructed to give “Inspector Khoo” her online banking credentials, and to destroy and discard the three ATM cards.
She realised that she had been duped after she told her husband who contacted the bank and found out that several money transfers totalling RM1.18 million had been made from her three bank accounts to an account in the name of an unknown person.