An engineer at a factory in Bayan Lepas, Penang, suffered losses amounting to RM24,300 after he was duped by a Macau scam syndicate claiming that he was involved in money laundering and drugs.

Barat Daya District Police chief Supt A A Anbalagan said the 29-year-old received a phone call while at work in Bayan Lepas Phase 4 industrial area, at 12.20pm on Tuesday from a man who had identified himself as an officer of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

"The ‘officer’ asked if the victim had opened an account at a bank branch in Kota Kinabalu and the engineer denied it. The caller said there was a transaction of RM530,000 in his name and the man was suspected of being involved in money laundering," Anbalagan told reporters in George Town last night.

He said the victim's phone call was supposedly connected to the Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department where he spoke to a man, who introduced himself as Sgt Samad.

He said the man, who introduced himself as a policeman, told the victim that a check with the Home Ministry system had revealed two arrest warrants against him for illegal money laundering and drug trafficking worth RM1.6 million.

Anbalagan said the victim, who feared being arrested by the police, had given his bank account password and the three-digit Transaction Authorisation Code (TAC).

He said the victim, who did some checking on his bank account later, found that his savings of RM24,300 had been transferred to another local account, and lodged a police report.

Anbalagan said further investigations were going on, including finding out the account owner used by the Macau scam syndicate. The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for fraud.

- Bernama