City police chief ACP M Chandra said the 48-year-old woman made a total of nine transactions amounting to RM260,000 in eight days, from May 21, to accounts set up by the syndicate.
He said the lecturer, who works at a public university here, first received a text message from the number 68886.
The text had apparently indicated that her CIMB credit card was used at the Senai Airport on May 21 although she had never been there.
“The victim immediately called the number 1-800-81-7399 that was given in the text message. The person who answered introduced himself as a CIMB bank officer.
“The person then told the unsuspecting woman that her bank account would be frozen and subsequently gave her another number, 03-92121402, for her to supposedly talk to a Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) investigating officer,” Chandra said.
The woman immediately called the number where a person posing as a BNM employee then told her to go to a Maybank branch here to start the process of transferring her money.
“The suspect who posed as the BNM officer instructed the woman to make transactions to four accounts belonging to the syndicate.”
Chandra said the woman only realised that she had been duped after she could not contact the so-called BNM investigating officer anymore.
“Efforts are underway to identify the suspects. But at the same time, we advise the public not to be fooled by such scams.
“Besides posing as bank officers, these syndicates can also pose as court officials and police officers, among others,” he said.
Chandra advised the people to ignore dubious text messages and report to the authorities immediately if they received calls from individuals or agencies demanding payments supposedly to help them avoid legal proceedings.
Those with information should contact the city police at its 24-hour line at 088-221191 or 318843.