Bogus cop outsmarts policemen
MALAY MAIL ONLINE
PETALING JAYA, April 3 — A conman impersonating a police officer worked the phones to dupe 49 families in five states into banking RM373,750 into his account since January by promising to release relatives detained for drug-related offences.
The smooth-talker, who frequently called himself “Inspector Faizal”, obtained their particulars from unsuspecting rank-and-file policemen deceived into thinking they were speaking to a police officer from the narcotics division.
In two instances, the 38-year-old fraudster, who is familiar with terms used by policemen, even ordered the state operations room to send a patrol car to the home of the parents of those detained to tell them to contact him on his mobile phone.
On occasions when no one was home, the policemen left a note for families to contact the conman.
The man, who also called himself Inspector Azmi, Inspector Saiful, Inspector Rahim and Inspector Samsudin, would then negotiate the price they would have to pay to secure their relatives’ release.
They usually banked in between RM5,000 and RM50,000 into an account in the name of Mohd Faizal Othman.
In one case, family members of four alleged drug traffickers were contacted by the Kedah police contingent, asking them to get in touch with an Inspector Faizal.
The suspect initially demanded RM500,000 for the release of the suspects but later agreed to a lower sum.
Family members who deposited RM50,000 were told to bank in another RM40,000 before their calls to him went unanswered.
In another incident, the suspect had instructed officers to visit the home of someone being investigated for theft — a day after he was released from police custody.
The officers met the detainee’s mother who was told to contact Inspector Faizal for the release of her son.
Families in Kelantan, Kedah, Johor, Negri Sembilan and Terengganu began lodging reports of being cheated after their relatives were not released.
The suspect’s game was up on March 9 when federal police, in a joint operation with state police, detained him in Jalan Raja Laut in Kuala Lumpur.
A police source told Malay Mail that investigators were working on the premise the suspect was involved in more cases, but others had not lodged reports for fear of being implicated in bribing a “policeman”.
Police are also investigating if other policemen were involved in the scam.
He said the suspect found out about the arrests through media reports and the Internet.
The source said he would telephone a particular police station and ask where suspects in a particular case were being held.
“He would then ask for the contact information of the detainee’s immediate family members,” he said.
He would also order the operations room there to despatch a police patrol car to visit the family members of the detainees.
“At times, policemen used their personal mobile phones to call the conman to enable him to speak the family members,” the source said.
A background check on the suspect revealed he had 11 previous convictions and was on the police wanted list for four of them.
Among offences he committed were kidnapping, possession of drugs, criminal intimidation, theft, cheating, and voluntarily causing hurt.
A Bukit Aman senior narcotics officer said verbal confirmation by police officers of the arrest of suspects was not standard operating procedure.
“An investigating officer in the narcotics division would be alerted of raids and arrests by policemen on the ground.
“There is no reason for a senior officer to check on detainees through a call at the administration level,” he said.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said the conman’s actions tarnished the police force and undermined public perception of policemen.
In a statement on Friday, he urged the public to be vigilant about such fraudsters.
He urged those with information on such cases to assist in investigations
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