Army veteran loses RM50,000 from his bank account

KUALA LUMPUR - A senior citizen loses RM50,000 of his pension and personal savings in a bank through multiple transactions made by unknown party since 2020.

The army veteran Kamaruddin Idris, 85, said he only realised that his saving was gone when he could not withdraw his money on Dec 19.

However, he said he had reported the matter and banks informed him the transactions were valid because the transaction authorisation code (TAC) was sent to his phone number.

Kamaruddin stated he had never received any confirmation number or gave it to another person.

His daughter Nor Aini Kamaruddin, 59, said her father's phone was only to answer calls received since Kamaruddin was not adept at using it.

She said the police report on Dec 20 was made, but no further actions were taken since the police advised to deal directly with the bank.

"When we want to deal with the bank, they asked us to deal with the telco that was used and a famous online shopping portal since a transaction appeared was allegedly on the application.

"There were multiple strange transactions since 2020. starting at RM400 and in 2022, the transactions made were RM2,000 or higher. There was a month with six transactions made.

"We were confused since our father would withdraw money around RM1,000 to RM1,500 a month. The rest were definitely not his. The odd transactions were not in the statement and none of the details were displayed.

"When we asked the bank, it said the transactions were made to this shopping portal. Suspicions rise even higher because my father is old, and he doesn't know anything about online shopping.

"He didn't even know the name of the app.

"The bank responded with generic answers that it was not responsible and only stated the money could no longer be recovered," she said when met by Sinar Harian at her home on Thursday.

Aini said it was even more doubtful because when she asked for a statement of the transaction or proof from the financial institution, the bank showed a simple document without a transaction receipt.

"The banks were supposed to show the proof with a transaction receipt. If this was Google Excel, it could be edited. They were just showing the TAC numbers, this made me feel suspicious and unsure.

"I don't know whether my father's money was taken by the bank or the scammer," she said.

Aini said senior citizens should be careful and always ask for bank statements to prevent such issues from happening.

"I hope all banks could raise their securities for the public, especially senior citizens who lived on their own or in villages to prevent them from being involved in such matters.

"Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) should play an important role in controlling all the banks under its supervision," she said.