Perak police chief Yusri Hassan Basri said the 55-year-old woman’s ordeal began when she received a call on Feb 21 and subsequently spoke to several individuals who deceived her into believing that she was involved in illegal activities including money laundering.

“The victim received a phone call from an individual claiming to be from a courier company regarding a parcel containing three identity cards, two ATM cards and three passports that she had sent to Kuantan, Pahang.

“The call was then transferred to another courier company ‘worker’, who informed the victim that a police report had been lodged against her and asked her to check the report sent through WhatsApp,” he said in a statement.

Yusri said the victim was then connected to a “police officer,” who informed her that she was suspected of being involved in money laundering activities.

“The victim was then put on a video call with another suspect to record her statement regarding the matter. She was shocked when she was told by the suspect that she had ‘sold’ her bank account to a bank manager for RM150,000 for illegal activities.

“The victim was then ordered to transfer all her savings into several accounts provided by the suspect for investigation purposes to prevent her money from being frozen,” he said.

Yusri said the victim, who panicked and was scared, made 20 transactions totalling RM181,650 to four bank accounts.

The woman lodged a police report yesterday after she realised she was cheated by the scammers, adding that the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code.