SIBU: Scammers in two separate cases cheated two women of over RM300,000, said Sarawak police.

       State Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) chief Supt Maria Rasid on Tuesday (April 12) said the first case involved a 40-year old civil servant in Miri, who lost RM140,000.

       "According to the victim, she received a call on Jan 14, from a woman called "Mastura" purportedly from a Takaful insurance company.

       Mastura said an insurance claim by the victim had been approved by the company's branch in Kuala Lumpur, said Supt Maria.

       When the victim denied this, she was connected to another individual who claimed to be a "Sergeant Billy" from the Pudu police station.

       Supt Maria said the victim was told her name had come up in money laundering cases with RM2mil having been deposited in her account.

       The line was then connected to another individual, a purported public prosecutor, who claimed he could help settle the case.

       "The victim was instructed to open a new bank account and provide the account number, atm card number as well as register online banking to a phone number given by the suspect," she said.

       In a state of panic, Supt Maria, said the victim put all her savings amounting to RM140,000 into the newly opened bank account as security to settle the case between Feb 18 to 28.

       The victim was also promised she would get her money back after the case was solved.

       "However she realized she had been cheated when the money disappeared from her bank account and her number was blocked by the suspect," said Sput Maria.

       In the second case, a 20-year old cashier of a private company in Mukah was cheated by an individual who claimed to be from Pos Laju.

       " According to the victim, she had received a phone call from an unidentified woman from the courier company on April 7. The suspect claimed there was a consignment which contained her identity card and a credit card," she said.

       The call was then connected to an "Inspector Kho" who told her that someone had used her identity card to open a bank account for money laundering activities.

       The woman was advised to make a payment to avoid her name being blacklisted

       "In addition, the victim is also said to be linked to a criminal case," she added.

       In a state of panic and confusion, Supt Maria said, the victim then made a total of 31 transfers amounting to RN174,000 to four bank accounts

       between April 7 to April 9.