KL woman fined RM24,000 over fraudulent transfer of retiree’s RM1.1m

On October 2, a 43-year-old unemployed woman named Chin Chew Woon was sentenced to a RM24,000 fine and 24 months of imprisonment by the Sessions Court in Kuala Lumpur. Chin had pleaded guilty to two counts of fraudulently transferring RM1.1 million belonging to an elderly retiree into her own bank account eight years prior. Judge Muhammad Ilmami Ahmad ordered her to pay the fine and emphasized that she would face imprisonment if she defaulted.

Chin was charged under Section 424 of the Penal Code, which permits up to five years in prison and a fine.

According to the court's facts, Chin allegedly received a phone call from someone posing as a police officer, informing her that she was implicated in a money laundering case. The caller instructed her to transfer his life savings of RM500,000 and an additional RM600,000 into Chin's account in Brickfields on December 26 and 27, 2018.

Subsequently, Chin was unable to reach the individual claiming to be a police officer to retrieve the money. Investigations later confirmed that Chin was the account holder who received the RM1.1 million. She failed to provide a credible explanation for the transactions.

Deputy public prosecutor Anis Hakimah Ibrahim requested the court to impose a deterrent sentence, considering the substantial financial losses suffered by the victim and the widespread occurrence of such fraudulent schemes in Malaysia. Chin, who had no legal representation, appealed for a more lenient sentence, citing her unemployment and the need to support her two children, her ailing mother, and her ill-in-law.