KUCHING: A clerk lost RM488,000 after falling victim to an online cheating or Macau Scam in Miri recently.
Sarawak Commercial CID chief, Supt Mustafa Kamal Gani Abdullah today said the 58-year-old clerk lost the money after being threatened via a telephone call claiming that she was involved in money laundering.
‘’The victim first received a call on Nov 17 from an individual masquerading as a policeman, Sergeant Yap Chee Hong, who accused her of having two cases in court, namely, the victim’s telephone number was used for cheating and her bank account was used for money laundering,’’ he said here.
Frightened by the allegations, he said, the victim complied with the individual’s order to reveal her user identity and her online bank account password, with the hope she would be let off the charges.
‘’It was only on Dec 11 that she realised she had been cheated when she found she only had over RM2,000 in her account,’’ he said, adding that the police had started investigation on the case under Section 420 of the Penal Code.
Mustafa also advised those receiving such telephone calls not to comply with the instructions of the callers asking for their personal and financial information because the authorities would not use the telephone to obtain such information. - Bernama
