TAMPIN, Dec 13 — A clerk of a private company lost RM693,900 after being deceived by a Macau Scam syndicate that claimed the victim was involved in money laundering. 

Negri Sembilan Commercial Crime Investigation Department head Supt Aibee Abd Ghani said the 59-year-old woman claimed to have received a call from an unknown person on October 27 who provided her with her name and identification number correctly.

"She was told that an arrest warrant will be issued against her for her involvement in money laundering, following which the call was connected to two men who claimed to be police officers known as Sergeant Tan and Asp Yong.

"During the conversation, she claimed the police officers created fear in her and requested for her Public Bank account username and password and for her to withdraw her savings totalling RM363,900 in the bank,” he said in a statement today.

He said the suspects  also told her to pay RM260,000 for bail and RM70,000 in legal fees.

The victim, who was scared and panicked, did as was told and transferred all her savings into a Public Bank account given by the suspects and was also told to be at the Tampin Court yesterday for mention of her case, he said.

Aibee said after giving her bank information to the suspects, she began receiving notifications from the bank on withdrawals from her account  to several unknown accounts and was informed the transactions were  for audit purposes and that the money would be returned to her later. 

He said the victim claimed she received another call yesterday, from a man claiming to be DSP Chew, who asked her to raise another RM135,000 for additional bail, but she did not make the payment as she had ran out of money.

Feeling that she had been deceived, the woman then lodged a police report and the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code, he added. — Bernama