A UNIVERSITY lecturer in Kuantan who took out RM217,729 in loans after being threatened with arrest by phone scammers ended up losing RM269,993 in a scheme involving fake financial crime investigators and police officers.
Acting Pahang police chief Datuk Azry Akmar Ayob said the 49-year-old woman lodged a police report yesterday after realising she had been duped.
He said the victim received a call on April 20 from a man claiming to be an officer with the National Financial Crime Prevention Centre (NFCC) in Putrajaya, who alleged that her personal information had been misused in an investment fraud.
The call was later transferred to another individual posing as a police officer, who accused her of involvement in money laundering.
“The victim was threatened with an arrest warrant, frozen bank accounts and imprisonment before being instructed to surrender her ATM card and make payments purportedly for bail,” he said in a statement today.
Azry Akmar said the victim, who did not have sufficient funds, took out several loans totalling RM217,729.
She also handed over her automated teller machine (ATM) card by leaving it at a location specified by the suspects.
Between Aug 29 and Sept 13, she made eight transactions totalling RM43,000 to six accounts.
Checks of her bank statements later revealed seven transfers totalling RM226,993 to five different accounts between June 28 and Aug 8.
Her total losses of RM269,993 comprised savings, proceeds from pawning gold jewellery and borrowed money. Her ATM card remains in the suspects’ possession, he said.
The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating. - October 21, 2026