Retired Penang bank manager loses RM680,000 in phone scam
The northeast district police headquarters' Commercial Crime Investigation Department said the victim, who resides in Tanjong Bunga, lodged a police report on June 26 after discovering that all the funds in three of his bank accounts had been siphoned off to unknown third parties.
Deputy police chief Datuk Mohd Alwi Zainal Abidin said the scam began on June 12, when the victim received a call from an unknown number.
He said the caller had introduced himself as a representative from Cyber Security Putrajaya, claiming that the victim's mobile number was involved in the spread of false information and that his name had been blacklisted.
"The call was then redirected to another individual claiming to be a police officer from Alor Setar, Kedah, who alleged that the victim's bank accounts were linked to money laundering activities.
"To "clear his name" and avoid arrest, the victim was instructed to open new accounts under his name at CIMB and BSN.
"On June 13, he complied with the instructions and later made four online transfers between June 19 and June 23, totalling RM680,781 into the newly opened accounts," he said in a statement today.
Alwi said the victim was subsequently directed to place the ATM cards for the CIMB, BSN and Maybank accounts, along with all his credit cards and account opening documents, into an envelope and leave them on top of a Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) substation box near the Maybank Tanjong Bunga branch.
"It was only on June 26, after checking his account balances, that the victim realised he had been scammed," he added.
Police have opened an investigation under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
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