PETALING JAYA: A company manager, a politician, teacher, a doctor and a pensioner – they are all victims who have fallen prey to Macau scams just this month alone.
They were told they either owed tax arrears, had committed an offence such as money-laundering or had bought a non-existent insurance policy.
They were then directed to another “official” such as a police officer, who told the victims that they were involved in a crime and needed to make payments or “processing fees” to get them off the hook.
The victims then disclosed personal details, bank account and credit card information to the scammers before losing their hard-earned money.
Johor police on Tuesday noted a spike in Macau scam cases with losses amounting to almost RM10mil within the first four months of this year.
On April 19, a company manager was reported to have lost more than RM1.2mil after she was duped by a person posing as an insurance agent.
Kedah Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Supt Elias Omar said the 46-year-old woman from Kulim, Kedah, received a phone call in October last year from a “Sabrina” claiming to be from a well-known insurance company asking the victim to make payment for a RM70,000 policy.
The victim denied purchasing the insurance policy and was redirected to the “Pudu police station” where she spoke on the phone to so-called police officers who informed her…
