Pahang police chief Yahaya Othman said the 69-year-old male victim was contacted through Facebook by a suspect posing as a bank officer on March 30 last year.

He said the bogus bank officer asked the victim to pretend to be the relative of a person who had apparently died after depositing US$26,700,000 (about RM126 million).

The vegetable trader was told he would be given half of the money.

“The suspect then connected the call to a ‘lawyer’ who would apparently handle all transactions for payments imposed on the victim, such as taxes, levy charges, anti-laundering fees and so on.

“The victim then used his savings and made 70 transactions into 26 different bank accounts from May 9, 2023 to March 11, 2024 but did not receive any payment as promised,” Yahaya said.

He advised the public to immediately check with the police or relevant agencies when receiving suspicious calls.