Elderly person loses RM485,000 in less than a month to scammers
Picture for illustrative purposes - FILE PIX
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Perak Police Chief, Datuk Mohd Yusri Hassan Basri said, the syndicate started deceiving the 72-year-old victim since August 4th when the suspect was contacted via phone call saying that he had been tricked and cheated by a delivery company.
He said, the syndicate informed that there was a package that was not successfully delivered containing a credit card, identification card chip and ATM card belonging to the victim before being threatened to be involved in human trafficking and money laundering cases.
"The victim, who was afraid of being arrested and jailed after being threatened, acted according to the instructions given by the suspect by transferring all his money to an account given by the suspect to avoid the victim's money being seized and frozen.
"From August 8 to September 6, 2023, the victim made 34 money transfers at ATM machines around Kerian and Nibong Tebal districts, Penang into 11 accounts belonging to individuals," he said in a statement on Tuesday.
Mohd Yusri said the victim only realized he had been cheated after his nephew visited and was suspicious when he wanted to make the next money transfer to the suspect.
According to him, after that the victim narrated all the incidents that happened to the family, he proceeded to file a police report.
He said the police received a report on the incident on September 11 and the loss suffered by the victim was estimated at RM485,000 while the case was still being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code.
Meanwhile, Mohd Yusri advisef the public not to be easily deceived by calls from unknown numbers to avoid being deceived by phone call fraud syndicates.
