Public advised to ignore 'Macau Scam' phone calls

JOHOR BARU: The public has been urged to ignore telephone calls from strangers who claim that their bank accounts have been used by certain criminal syndicates.
South Johor Baru Police chief ACP Sulaiman Salleh gave this advice after a woman was deceived by a syndicate known as the 'Macau Scam' last Tuesday.
The 30-year-old victim reported she received a call from an individual who introduced himself as Inspector Chia, a police officer from China at about 9am.
He said the suspect who used the phone number +862162310110 told the victim her account had been used by an international drug syndicate.
"The suspect then ordered the woman to give the last four-digit of her ATM card and to deposit RM2,500 into an account belonging to a man, to avoid arrest.
"At 2.30pm (on the same day), the victim deposited the required sum of money into a Hong Leong Bank account as provided by the suspect. The victim was then warned not to disclose the matter to anyone," he said in a statement here, Wednesday.
Sulaiman said fearing for her safety, the victim made a police report.
"The police would like to advise the public not to entertain calls from unknown overseas telephone numbers to avoid from being cheated and incurring losses.
"Members of the public are urged to contact the police if they receive such calls and advised not to make any payment because this is a fraud ring known as 'Macau Scam'," he said. — Bernama