JOHOR BARU: Teachers in Johor are falling victim to scams, with 64 of them losing their life savings. The total losses amounted to RM2.5mil in the past few months.
Scam syndicates in Johor have targeted mainly female teachers, impersonating enforcement personnel. They use various pretexts such as insurance fraud, tax evasion, money laundering, criminal court cases, and dubious investment schemes.
The scammers pretend to be policemen, court officials, insurance officers, Bank Negara officials, prosecutors, and income tax officers.
Some teachers, afraid of arrest or court charges, took bank loans to “park” money in mule accounts.
Johor police chief Comm Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat confirmed numerous reports involving teachers in the last seven months and advised the public to exercise caution, especially online. He recommended checking bank accounts and phone numbers with the Semak Mule online app.
In the latest case, a female teacher in her 30s reported losing over RM700,000 to a dubious investment scheme. She was enticed via WhatsApp with promises of high returns on shares.
A syndicate gained the teacher’s trust by providing high returns initially but disappeared after she invested a larger sum of money.
In another case, a teacher in her 50s received a call from an “insurance official” about a fake medical claim amounting to almost RM70,000. The teacher denied filing the claim but was threatened by multiple people, including policewomen and female prosecutors, who accused her of fraud, money laundering, and drug trafficking.
The victim was coerced into moving her bank funds and eventually took out a RM200,000 loan. The suspects transferred all her money, totaling RM300,000.
Due to the high number of cases, the Johor police, Bank Negara, and the state Education Department initiated an awareness campaign for teachers in all 10 districts of Johor. The campaign, led by the Johor Commercial Crime Investigation Department, will continue until next month and has received an overwhelming response, with nearly 1,000 teachers signing up.
Credit: The Star : News Feed
