Macau Scam Syndicate Convinced Malaysian Farmer That He Was Involved in Drugs & Money Laundering

By Karissa Lund  •  10 May 2019 in News

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Just when you thought scams couldn’t get any crazier, cases like this prove us wrong again. According to The Star, a 60-year-old farmer in Pahang was cheated by a Macau Scam syndicate which convinced him into believing that he was implicated in drugs and money laundering. The scammer deceived him into transferring RM72k as it was “dirty” money.

It all started when the farmer got a call from a woman, who claimed she was a police officer from the Penang police contingent headquarters. The woman then asked whether the victim knew a man named Wong.

Pahang Commercial CID chief Supt Mohd Wazir Mohd Yusof stated that, “The victim denied knowing the man but was still told that his name had been implicated in drugs and money laundering.”

The woman instructed the farmer to deposit money into an account since it was supposedly “dirty” money from the “crimes” he was involved in. Frightened by the consequences, the farmer believed the woman and did as told.

Later, the farmer was unable to contact the woman, that’s when he suspected that he was scammed. He lodged a report at the Bentong district police headquarters on 8 May. Police are investigating the case under Section 420 of the Penal Code.

Selangor Commercial Crime Investigation Department Chief Asst Comm Fazlisyam Abd Majid said that the syndicate is connected to 38 cases of Macau scams nationwide with 11 of those in Selangor. With the 11 cases alone, the losses were up to RM1 million.

Scamming has always been a “creative” field. Last year many lonely, middle-aged women in Malaysia fell victim to a ‘love scam‘ ran by an internet syndicate which accumulated RM83 million worth of scammed cash. The scammers would hunt down these women and establish a romantic relationship before asking for money with various excuses.

Be careful out there! Don’t believe any callers without proper identification, and NEVER transfer money due to unknown caller.

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