KUCHING: Kuching Police are investigating a phone scam case involving a 41-year-old local woman who lost RM56,000 after being deceived by fraudsters posing as insurance and police officers.
Kuching District Police Chief ACP Alexson Naga Chabu said the victim lodged a report with the Kuching District Commercial Crime Investigation Division yesterday.
He said the incident began on September 4 this year when the victim, who was at work, received a call from an individual identifying himself as “Faizal Madnoor,” an officer from Etiqa Insurance. The caller claimed the victim’s personal details had been used to make a false insurance claim amounting to RM68,000 at KPJ Damansara Hospital in Petaling Jaya between June 10 and June 16, 2025.
When the victim denied any involvement, the call was allegedly transferred to another person claiming to be Sergeant Mohd Remi from Bukit Aman Police Headquarters.
The victim was then told she was under investigation for money laundering and that the case was being handled by Inspector Mohd Khairul.
Alexson said the suspects instructed the victim to make several payments to settle the case. Believing the call to be genuine, she made four separate transactions into four different bank accounts, totalling RM56,000. The victim later informed her husband about the incident and realised she had been scammed.
He disclosed that from January 1 to November 10, 2025, the Kuching Commercial Crime Investigation Division has opened 91 investigation papers involving similar modus operandi, with total losses amounting to RM4,665,375.50.
He advised the public not to panic and to immediately hang up on suspicious calls, not to share any personal or banking information with unknown callers, to contact the nearest police station for verification or to file a report, and to check suspicious bank account numbers or phone numbers via the official PDRM ‘Semak Mule’ portal at https://semakmule.rmp.gov.my. For further inquiries or complaints, the public may contact the Sarawak Commercial Crime Investigation Department (JSJK) hotline at 011-62890089 or email kjsjkswk@rmp.gov.my, or call the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) hotline at 997, which operates 24 hours daily.
By Connie Chieng