An assistant agriculture officer who wanted to clear her name after being linked with several fraud insurance claims last year, ended up losing RM215,100 of her savings to a scam syndicate.
The 45-year-old victim from Maran assumed that she was dealing with a genuine police officer before falling prey to the syndicate's tactics.
Pahang police chief Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said the incident unfolded in November last year, when the victim received a call from an individual who introduced himself as an insurance officer.
The individual told the victim that records showed that she had made three false insurance claims and when the victim denied the allegations, the man told her to lodge a police report to help clear her name.
The call was connected to a police officer who said the victim's name was also linked with money laundering and corruption. The 'policeman' told the victim that she could choose to pay RM400,000 to settle the case.
Ramli said the victim, who panicked, had revealed all her bank account details to the bogus policeman before later realising that 33 transactions were made from her online banking account to accounts belonging to third parties.
Meanwhile, Ramli said in a second incident, a 37-year-old housewife from Temerloh lost RM165,090 of her Tabung Haji savings to scammers who claimed her personal particulars were abused by a third party.
He said the woman received a call on Jan 13 from an individual claiming to be a courier company worker saying the victim had sent a parcel to one Tan Boon Hua.
The victim denied knowledge about such parcels and told the worker to inspect the items. She was informed the contents included a sim card, bank cards, cheque books and USB drives.
The worker told the victim that her personal details might have been used by 'Tan' to open bank accounts and told her to lodge a police report.
The call was transferred to a policeman who gave her a link to fill-up her banking details and assisted her to open a new bank account, he said, adding the victim transferred all her Tabung Haji savings into the new account.
Ramli said the victim found RM165,090 was missing from the new account on Jan 17 and realised that eight transactions had been performed to transfer the cash into an unknown account.
He said both cases were being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating, which provides for a maximum jail term of 10 years and whipping, and a fine if convicted.
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