Elderly KL housewife duped of RM1.3mil in FD phone scam

KUALA LUMPUR: An emerging phone scam tactic involves offering victims a savings and investment scheme from a banking institution, says Bukit Aman.

Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Comm Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said an 85-year-old housewife in Kuala Lumpur was duped out of RM1.3mil by this tactic.

“A police report was lodged on Tuesday (Aug 27), where the housewife claimed that she received a phone call from an individual claiming to be a bank officer.

“The ‘officer’ pitched a fixed-deposit investment with a 4.8% annual return.

“The victim was then instructed to transfer her savings to two accounts in her name,” he told a press conference at CCID headquarters here on Wednesday (Aug 28).

The victim was told to activate online banking for both accounts and give access to the “bank officer”, he added.

“The victim realised she had been duped when all the money in the two accounts was lost,” he said.

Phone scammers typically pose as bank officers, the police, or even court officials, he said.

“The scammer will try to scare victims by claiming that something is wrong with their account before transferring the call, supposedly to other agencies’ officers.

“The victims will then be told to transfer the money into a mule account to avoid legal action,” he added.

Comm Ramli stressed that authorities such as the police do not conduct investigations over the phone, let alone transfer calls to other agencies for investigation.

“Hang up immediately if you get such a call as it is a scam,” he said.