BERNAMA – A contractor has claimed he lost MYR571,000 since mid-February after being duped by a caller that the money would get him the honorific title of “Datuk Seri”.
Pahang police chief Datuk Yahaya Othman said the victim, aged 63, alleged he was contacted by the suspect who identified himself as the “Datuk Pengelola Bijaya Istana Pahang” (Comptroller of the Royal Household for the Sultan of Pahang) and offered him the title.
“The suspect claimed he had a quota of six titles and if the victim was interested to get a title, he only had to make donations to programmes supposedly organised by the palace.
“The victim was interested and asked four of his friends to also obtain these titles, thus causing the suspect to contact him (victim) several times to ask for donations,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Datuk Yahaya said the victim claimed he made 32 donations totalling MYR571,000, through online transactions to five bank accounts provided by the suspect.
The victim claimed that his money was withdrawn from his personal savings apart from being obtained from his friends who were also interested in getting the titles.
He said the victim became suspicious of the offer after making the transactions and proceeded to lodge a police report at the Kuantan district police headquarters on Thursday.
