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Civil servant allegedly loses over RM1m to Macau scam

Sarawak Commercial Crimes Investigation Department (CCID) chief Mustafa Kamal Gani Abdullah said the woman lodged a report two days ago after finding only RM21 left in her bank account. — Reuters pic
Sarawak Commercial Crimes Investigation Department (CCID) chief Mustafa Kamal Gani Abdullah said the woman lodged a report two days ago after finding only RM21 left in her bank account. — Reuters pic

KUCHING, May 22 — Sarawak police are investigating the case of a civil servant allegedly losing over RM1 million to a Macau scam.

Sarawak Commercial Crimes Investigation Department (CCID) chief Mustafa Kamal Gani Abdullah said the 52-year old woman lodged a report at the Miri district police headquarters two days ago after finding her bank account was left with only RM21.

“According to the victim, she received a call on May 5 from a woman who identified herself as Syaifa binte Omar from the Terengganu High Court, claiming that the victim had embezzled a bank of RM90,000 through her credit card,” Mustafa Kamal told reporters here.

He said the caller also accused the victim of selling drugs and that she was under police investigation.

“After that, the victim received another call from a man who identified himself as Sufian Sulaiman, claiming that her bank account had been used to embezzle money and drug smuggling,” he said.

He said the caller then told the victim that her bank account would be frozen unless she changed her bank account number.

“Apart from that, the victim was also asked to change her handphone number so she could register her online banking system to a handphone number given by the suspect,” he said.

Mustafa Kamal said the victim then transferred RM1,096,800 into her new bank account in 18 transactions from May 7 to May 20.

He said the victim only released that she fell victim to a scam after checking her bank account through an ATM that had only RM21 left.

Mustafa Kamal urged members of the public not to be gullible when receiving calls from people claiming to be from government institutions or the police.

He said if they have doubts with the calls, they should send their queries through WhatsApp or SMS to the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) Infoline at 013-211 1222.

He said they can also surf the police’s official portal to seek advice or information relating to financial fraud.

Mustafa Kamal said members of the public can also contact Bank Negara Malaysia through telephone numbers 1-300-88-5465 (LINK); 082-224200 (BNM Kuching); or email: bnmtelelink@bnm.gov.my.

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