Villagers Detain Couple Collecting RM50,000 From Elderly Scam Victim

A 29-year-old man caught by residents of Felda Kerteh 3 in Dungun, after allegedly cheating an elderly woman, has been remanded for four days from today. Dungun district police chief Superintendent Nik Ab Halim Nik Mat said the Dungun Magistrate’s Court issued the order this morning.

The man’s wife, also 29 and believed to be involved, was released on police bail because she is pregnant and due to give birth on Friday. Both are being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code, which covers cheating.

Fake TNB and Police Call Targets Elderly Woman in Felda Kerteh 3

According to police, on 3 November the victim received a call from someone posing as a Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) officer, who claimed she had unpaid electricity bills at a premises in Kuantan.

The call was transferred to another person posing as a police officer, who told her that her identity card had been misused in money laundering.

To convince her, the suspects asked her to hand over jewellery as evidence. The next day she placed two gold bracelets and a gold necklace in her mailbox, where an unknown person collected them.

Yesterday, at about 4pm, the couple were detained by villagers when they went to the victim’s house to collect RM50,000 in cash they had also demanded. They were then taken to the Dungun district police headquarters.