A 72-year-old Indonesian doctor with permanent residency in Malaysia and who lives in Raub, Pahang allegedly lost a total of 30,000 ringgit (US$7,400) on two occasions to phone scammers who posed as court staff and a police officer from Alor Setar.
At 11:50am on June 18 at his clinic, he received a call from a man claiming to be calling from the Alor Setar High Court about an outstanding debt of 17,600 ringgit (US$4,340) from a company registered under his name, the China Press reported.
When the doctor denied he had the debt, he was given a telephone number by the fake court officer who told him to call to report the case to the Alor Setar district police station. The man followed the instructions.
Ten days later the doctor received a call from another man who identified himself a police officer from the Alor Setar district headquarters, who accused him of being involved in fraud and money laundering in the city after illegal movements of cash were observed from his bank account, as well as the unsettled company debt.
The doctor provided details on his bank account to the caller for further investigation. To his surprise, about 30,000 ringgit (US$7,400) had been transferred to a third party account without his permission when he later checked the account.
Raub District police are now following up the case under Section 420 of the Penal Code, which provides a maximum jail term of 10 years, whipping and fine upon conviction.