{
  "id": 1073249,
  "title": "University student loses RM29,000 in phone scam",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/15/university-student-loses-rm29-000-in-phone-scam",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-08-15T16:24:12.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "New Straits Times",
    "slug": "new-straits-times",
    "url": "https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2026/08/1511919/university-student-loses-rm29000-phone-scam"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "A 22-year-old university student in Perak, Malaysia, has lost RM29,000 after falling victim to a sophisticated phone scam. The scam involved two callers posing as a courier company representative and a law enforcement officer, who threatened the victim with arrest and prosecution. The scammer instructed the victim to transfer RM8,999 to various bank accounts and hand over RM20,000 worth of gold jewellery, prompting the victim to panic and comply. The victim only discovered he had been scammed when neither the money nor the jewellery were returned. Malaysian police have since arrested three men suspected of being part of the scam syndicate and seized communication equipment believed to be used by the group to facilitate online scams from overseas. Police urge the public to report any suspicious activities to help prevent further scams.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}