KUCHING, April 15 — A government officer lost his family’s entire savings of about RM487,000 to a criminal syndicate which accused him of not settling his credit card debts, the police said today.

Sarawak Commercial Crimes Investigation Department (CCID) chief Superintendent Mustafa Kamal Gani Abdullah said a man, who claimed to be a police officer from Terengganu, also accused the victim of being involved in drug smuggling activities.

Mustafa Kamal said the man then asked the victim, who is in his 20s and working with a government department here, to open a new bank account with the bank where the family’s savings was kept.

"The man then told the victim that it was for the purpose of auditing by the national auditor,” Mustafa Kamal said.

He said the victim was convinced that the call was genuine after he was referred to a so-called police officer by the caller.

"After he had opened a new bank account, the victim then surrendered his Internet banking account number to the syndicate.

"After he checked his bank account yesterday, he found all his family’s savings disappeared,” Mustafa Kamal said.

He said the victim told CCID officers that he did not have a credit card with the bank mentioned by the caller, but suspected that his name could have been used by a syndicate to apply for the credit card.

He said the victim complied with what the caller asked him to do, although he knew that many people had fallen victim to the Macau scam.