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Chong (left) with the victim during the Facebook live video streaming on his Facebook page.
KUCHING (June 19): A woman here has allegedly lost more than RM123,000 of her savings after falling victim to a banking scam in late April this year.
Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen said the victim had sought his help as she did not receive any word from the bank after her savings was transferred to a new account that was depleted through unauthorised fund transfers.
“Sometime in late April, the victim received a phone call from someone claiming to be a police officer who informed her that they were investigating on a financial transaction case and that she had to open a bank account and transfer all her funds into the bank account so that they can trace the financial activities.
“So, being a very innocent person who has yet to encounter such a phone call, she went to a bank here to open the new bank account, and then she transferred all her savings into the account .
“On the next day, she informed the caller that she has done what was instructed and informed the caller on the account number and details, and that was it. One day later, she found out that a sum of RM123,900 was transferred out from the new account. She then immediately went to the bank to check and until today, she has yet to get a response from the bank,” he said during a live video streaming posted on his Facebook page today.
Chong,who is Stampin MP and Padungan state assemblyman, said what puzzled the victim was that the sum was transferred out from her account on April 26 even though the Internet banking for the account had yet to be activated.
He added that the victim had not received any notifications regarding on the unauthorised bank transfer.
“After waiting for a month, she received no response from the bank. That’s why last Friday she contacted (my special assistant) Michael Kong and today we have come over and approached the bank to better understand the matter with the bank officer.
“However, I was informed that the bank officer had pushed the case to the bank’s headquarters, saying that the regional office is handling the matter – therefore they can’t do anything. They also said they have no knowledge on the results of the investigation,” he added.
Seeing that the banking scams have become rampant in the last few years, he called on the government to take sterner actions and effective measures to solve the issue.
Chong said unless Bank Negara Malaysia or the Ministry of Finance steps in, it would be extremely difficult for the victims to recover their losses.
“I think it is very unfair (for the victims) and this does not give confidence to the public about our financial and banking system.
“With regards to the victim, we will continue to follow up on the case and we will try to recover the amount for her,” he added.
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