SRI AMAN: A 22-year-old man was fined RM15,000, in default 12 months’ imprisonment, by the Magistrates’ Court here today after admitting to acting as a mule account holder for an online scam syndicate that impersonates police officers.
Alistair Nigel, from Stampin, Kuching, pleaded guilty to a charge read before Magistrate Intan Nurul Farena Zainal Abidin.
He was charged under Section 424C of the Penal Code for indirectly facilitating a transaction involving more than RM8,000 deposited into a bank account registered under his name.
According to the charge, the accused received the transaction from a 54-year-old male victim at a bank here at about 6.53 pm on January 13.
The offence carries a penalty of imprisonment for not less than three years and up to 10 years, or a fine ranging from RM10,000 to RM150,000, or both.
Based on the facts of the case, the complainant, a teacher, received a phone call at about 11 am on January 11 while at a bank ATM from an individual claiming to represent the Touch ‘n Go (TnG) application.
The caller informed him that someone had attempted to transfer RM13,700 into his account, which the complainant denied authorising.
He was then instructed to lodge a “denial report” with the police stating that he had no knowledge of the transaction.
Later the same day, the complainant received another call from a woman identifying herself as Inspector Hajar, who claimed to be a police officer from Penang.
She allegedly connected the complainant to another individual identified as Datuk Salawati.
During the conversation, the complainant was told that he needed to cooperate to “clear his name” and was asked about the source of his finances. He was also requested to provide the ATM PIN numbers for his CIMB Bank and Bank Rakyat cards.
At about 1 pm on the same day, another individual claiming to be ACP Ruslan from the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) unit contacted the complainant and instructed him to hand over his debit card to a third party without informing anyone, citing the Official Secrets Act.
At around 6.20 pm, the complainant went to a parking area and handed his ATM card to an unidentified man wearing a face mask, allegedly to assist in verifying that his bank account was not linked to money laundering activities.
The complainant only realised he had been scammed on January 19 at about 3 pm after discovering that funds had been withdrawn from his bank account without his knowledge.
He suffered an estimated loss of RM117,000 and subsequently lodged a police report, leading to the arrest of the accused.
Investigations revealed that the accused had admitted to previously handing over his debit card, bank account number and personal details to another individual for use in online scam activities.
The prosecution was conducted by prosecuting officer, Inspector Nur Farah Ain Hazeline Abdullah, while the case was investigated by investigating officer, Sergeant Lim Hock Liong.
