A RETIRED worker in Subang Jaya lost RM3.84 million after falling victim to a “phone scam”.

Selangor police chief Hussein Omar Khan said the 70-year-old woman received a phone call from an person in November 2022 claiming to be an insurance officer, who said there had been an insurance claim in her name.

“The complainant denied that he had made the insurance claim. The call was then connected to the ‘police’ who said the complainant was listed as being involved in a money laundering case and that she could be arrested,” he said in a statement today.

He said the woman was duped into opening a new account for investigation purposes, and in a panic, she transferred RM3.839 million into the account.

She was also told to hand over the bank account details to aid in the investigation and not to access the account for a few months.

“Yesterday the complainant went to the bank to check on the account and found that it only had a balance of RM79.59, and realised that she had been a victim of fraud,” he said.

Hussein reminded people not to entertain calls from unknown people. He said the police would never conduct an investigation over the phone, nor would they instruct anyone to deposit their money to any account for investigation purposes. – Bernama, September 15, 2023.