KUANTAN: An aged vegetable trader in Cameron Highlands misplaced RM958,088 after falling sufferer to a ‘phone scam’, tempted by a plot to inherit a fortune concocted by an internet crime syndicate.
Pahang police chief Datuk Seri Yahaya Othman stated the 69-year-old male sufferer first obtained a name via Facebook from a suspect posing as a financial institution officer on March 30 final 12 months.
He stated the bogus banker provided the sufferer a deal that if he pretended to be the relative of a person, who died after depositing US$26,700,000 (about RM126 million), he (the vegetable trader) would get 50 per cent of the fortune.
“Then the suspect related the decision to a ‘lawyer’ who would deal with all transactions for funds imposed on the sufferer, resembling taxes, levy fees, anti-laundering charges and so forth.
“The sufferer then used his financial savings and made 70 transactions into 26 totally different financial institution accounts from May 9, 2023 to March 11, 2024 however didn’t obtain any fee as promised,“ Yahaya stated.
He suggested the general public to instantly test with the police or related companies when receiving suspicious calls.
