TAIPING: Macau scam victims stand a slim chance of recovering their money, says an investigating officer under the commercial crime division of Taiping district police.

Inspector Zulkifli Shafiee said since he started investigating the Macau scam in 2017, he had not seen a victim successfully recovering the money.

“This is because the syndicate uses a very clever strategy to transfer the money via many money mules’ accounts until the fund is transferred out of the country.

“Even if the police manage to trace the funds, they will have lost the evidence and can only charge the money mules,” he said.

Unless there was evidence showing negligence committed by the banks, he said banks were normally not responsible as this was mainly caused by the account holder’s negligence, said Insp Zulkifli during a talk on Macau scam and cyber crimes jointly organized by Persatuan Penganut Dewa Ku Ong Yah in Taiping and the Taiping police on August 20.

Government department officials normally would not contact members of the public directly, he said, referring to callers referring themselves as public servants to inform the victim that he was found to have been involved in criminal offenses, tax evasion or identity theft.

“If the caller transfers the call to another person by saying the problem can be resolved, for sure this is a scam and you should ignore such calls,” said Insp Zulkifli.

“Inform your friends and family whenever you receive such calls so that you are not trapped or controlled by the syndicate by continuing to transfer funds out of your account,” he continued.

Referring to a case, Insp Zulkifli said a teacher fell prey to Macau scam in 2020.

Apart from losing RM30,000 from her accounts, the victim was also instructed by the syndicate to apply for loans from seven banks.

Two of the banks approved her applications and the teacher lost a total of RM450,000 in three months.

“She did not disclose the matter to her husband. Otherwise, she would not have been duped for three months,” Zulkifli said, adding that one should lodge a police report after receiving calls from scammers even if no money has been lost.

“This will provide new leads for the police,” he said.