In the first case, a woman was conned of RM90k after she was scared into believing she was wanted for money laundering, while in the second case, a septuagenarian lost RM9,500 after he was duped into believing he had won a car in a lucky draw.
Case #1
- Conmen use the familiar modus operandi of claiming to be the police to accuse victims of alleged crimes
- So frightened was the woman that she gave her account details, online banking username and password
- She read out the Transaction Authorisation Code (TAC) to the scammer – nine times for nine transfers from her account
Case #2
- The swindler conned the elderly man in person outside a hypermarket
- Drove the victim to “claim his prize” of a car he had allegedly won
- Victim surrendered bank cards, personal identification numbers, two mobile phones, believing the conman’s story of wanting to transfer cash winnings
- RM5k cashed out from victim’s accounts, RM4.5k transaction made with his credit card
A 44-year-old woman from Klang received a call from a man who claimed to be a bank executive on Thursday, saying that she had defaulted on her loan from the bank amounting to RM3,376.
“When she denied that she had any loans with the bank, the man said he would transfer the call to the Perak police headquarters where she was told that her details had been used to apply for a bank loan,” South Klang OCPD Asst Comm Shamsul Amar Ramli said.
“The victim then talked to a woman who claimed to be a sergeant. The ‘sergeant’ confirmed that her name was used to apply for a loan.
“She was then asked to read out her identification card number, and the victim was told that she was on the police’s wanted list for being involved in a money laundering case, along with another man,” Shamsul said in a statement.
The victim denied the allegation and the ‘sergeant’ then transferred the call to another man claiming to be an Inspector.
The ‘Inspector’ intensified the victim’s fear by claiming that she could be detained by police for 45 days if she did not cooperate.
The conman then told the victim that she had to surrender her money to be audited and assured her that the funds would be returned after the investigation. For the money transfer to be carried out, the ‘Inspector’ told the victim to surrender her account details as well as online banking username and password.
Frightened, the woman complied with the ‘Inspector’s’ request.
She soon received a Transaction Authorisation Code (TAC) on her mobile phone which he made her read out.
“This happened about nine times and the ‘Inspector’ assured her that her money would be returned at about 4pm on Dec 1,” Shamsul said.
Scammers managed to trick a woman out of RM90,000 by telling her that she was involved in a money laundering scheme.
He revealed that the woman later told her neighbour, a police personnel with the South Klang Commercial Crime Investigation Department, about the call.
“The policeman believed that the woman was conned, and advised her to lodge a report,” Shamsul said.
The victim’s worst fears were confirmed when her bank called that she had performed nine bank transfer transactions to an unknown account.
Police are tracking down the perpetrators.
In a separate case, a 78-year-old man lost RM9,500 after he was duped into believing that he won a car in a lucky draw in Kelana Jaya on Friday.
The septuagenarian was putting groceries into his car at the parking lot of a hypermarket when a man approached him and requested to look at his receipt of purchases, upon which he said that the elderly man had won a car.
The victim was then taken to Bukit Tinggi, Klang, to “claim his prize.”
“Upon arriving in Klang, the man asked for the victim’s bank cards claiming that he also wanted to transfer some cash winnings. The victim had passed his cards along with its personal identification numbers and two mobile phones to the man,” Shamsul said.
The victim was then asked to wait while the man collected the car on his behalf.
After waiting for three hours, the victim realised that he had been scammed.
Checks with the banks showed that a total of RM5,000 was cashed out and an RM4,500 transaction was made with his credit card.