SEREMBAN, June 24 -- A medical doctor lost RM92,800 to a syndicate yesterday after being deceived into believing that he owed the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) money and was also wanted in connection with a criminal case.
Negeri Sembilan Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Supt Aibee Ab Ghani said it all started when the 28-year-old victim received a call from a man impersonating an IRB officer claiming that he had tax arrears of RM38,000.
He said the victim was then purportedly connected to the Pahang police headquarters and told he was involved in firearms, money laundering and drugs and should transfer money into an account to review the case.
“The victim deposited RM30,000 and RM10,000 into two Maybank accounts bearing the numbers 22601016831 and 162254850856 at the Maybank Seremban branch at 12.48 pm on the same day.
“The victim also deposited money into several other bank accounts in stages, all totalling RM92,800. He lodged a police report yesterday after realising that he had been duped in a Macau Scam,” he said in a statement here today.
Meanwhile, in a separate case, a 51-year-old tailor lost RM80,954 after being duped into applying for a loan from a non-existent money lending company based on an advertisement on Facebook in May.
“At 1.08 pm on May 29, the woman, who resides in Jempol, received a message from a man claiming that her RM250,000 loan application had been approved and directed the victim to deposit RM80,954 into a separate account for processing purposes.
“The victim later made 26 online transactions to eight bank accounts given to her, and at the same time received a bank message on 69393 that her application was being processed,” he said.
Aibee said the victim lodged a police report yesterday when she failed to contact the man and realised that the loan money was not deposited into her account.
Aibee said police have opened 185 investigation papers involving non-existent loans in the state so far this year with losses totalling RM1.4 million, compared to 177 cases with losses of RM1.37 million for the same period last year.
-- BERNAMA
