Housewife, student lose over RM250,000 to Macau scam syndicate

MELAKA - A housewife and a student in Melaka lost RM259,642 to a Macau scam syndicate after being duped by a syndicate member who posed as a Health Ministry official claiming that their personal information had been used by other individuals for vaccination registration.

Melaka Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Supt E. Sundra Rajan said the victims were a 60-year-old housewife from Alor Gajah, who lost RM247,642, and a 21-year-old institute of higher learning student who lost RM12,000.

He said his team received reports about the two victims of fraud at the Simpang Ampat and Batu Berendam police stations respectively on April 8.

"Both victims claimed they had received a call from the suspect who claimed he was a Health Ministry officer and told them their personal details had been used in the Covid-19 vaccination registration.

"The victims were then instructed to cooperate with the suspect to investigate the matter and they were then connected to the 'police' via a call for further verification before being informed that their personal details were used in a money laundering case," he said in a statement here today.

Sundra Rajan said both victims were threatened that action would be taken against them if they failed to give their cooperation to the said syndicate.

The syndicate then ordered the victims to provide all information pertaining to their bank accounts for auditing purposes but after the victims had given their bank account and pin numbers, as well as their online banking access, the victims' funds from their accounts were transferred into the suspect's account.

He said the two cases are being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.

In the meantime, he said the Melaka police have received 93 reports related to Macau scam syndicates involving losses of an estimated RM3.12 million from Jan 1 to yesterday.

Therefore the public is advised to be cautious about suspicious calls and to check telephone and bank account numbers provided by suspects via http://ccid.rmp.gov.my/semakmule/ or download the application "Semak Mule CCID" on Google Play Store before making any transactions. - BERNAMA