SEPANG: Scamming activities in Sepang district is turning worrisome with already 12 individuals ending up as victims in the first five months of the year, losing a total RM 525,242 in the process.
Sepang district police chief ACP Abdul Aziz Ali said the victims comprised seven men and five women, aged between 21 and 64, and from various backgrounds.
“Three are business owners, three more are company executives, and the rest consist of a secretary, an engineer, a salesman, a pensioner, and an information technology engineer,“ he said in a press conference, here today.
Abdul Aziz said one of the victims lost RM244,000 after receiving a call from an individual introducing himself as a Citibank officer and who told the victim that he was implicated in a credit card cheating case.
The victim denied his involvement but the suspect convinced him that he could help his case via the Malaysia Deposit Insurance Corp (PIDM), and further instructed a transaction authorisation code (TAC) received by the victim to be forwarded to him.
“The victim continued to send a series of TACs for withdrawals until the amount reached RM244,000,“ Abdul Aziz said.
In another case, Abdul Aziz said the victim got to know an individual named ‘Derrick Martins’ via the social media dating platform “Grindr” who later informed that he (Derrick) was sending him (victim) cash totalling US$150,000 via cargo.
“He (victim) received a call one day from ‘cargo agents’ informing that the money was being held up by Customs for non-declaration, after which the victim was asked to make payments to declare the cash.
“The victim made several payments to an account that finally totalled RM76,530 and that when he felt something amiss,“ he said.
Abdul Aziz advised the public not to fall for suspicious calls or risk ending up a scam victim.
Abdul Aziz said police have difficulty investigating these cases as the syndicates use account numbers belonging to other individuals for transactions.
“For example, they would pay a small token to a village teenager just to use his mother’s account. When we make an arrest, the woman would be clueless as the son would have been handling her account all the while.
“The son, on the other hand, would say that he was paid for the accounts to be used temporarily and that was his only involvement, and we find it to be true when we investigate,“ he added.
In another development, Abdul Aziz said Sepang police solved 11 house break-in cases at the Savanna Executive Suites in Dengkil with the arrest of two men and a woman on May 17.
“Upon checking we found the 24-year-old suspect has 23 previous criminal records, while the other man, also 24, had two and the 37-year-old woman had 11 previous records,“ he said.
Abdul Aziz said among the stolen items seized from the trio were 29 mobile phones, 15 watches, four bank cards, three cameras, two laptops, jewellery, crash helmets, a car and burglary tools.
“Based on the items seized, we believe the group is also active in snatch thefts and car break-ins in nearby districts,“ he said.
Police, however, are not done yet with the case and are now looking for two men — Syed Ahmad Zaki Syed Zin, 30, who is the husband of the female suspect and Ahmad Eiman Razali, 23, who is also suspected to be involved in the case.
Those with information are urged to contact Sub-Inspector Roselee Ibrahim at 013-8961912 any nearest police station, Abdul Aziz said, adding that the case is being investigated under Section 457 of the Penal Code. — Bernama
