We know that scams that steal people’s money are on the rise and more gullible are falling for them. They are also getting more sophisticated too and thus, fooling more people. How to be aware of such scams? How not to fall victim? Just three easy rules to observe:
- Never pay any upfront fees for promised services;
- Always check and confirm who is asking for your personal or financial information;
- Usually, if the offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Here are some of the scams that had made it to the local press recently:
Case 1:
Last year, Liang lost RM30,000 of his life savings in a business investment opportunity that turned out to be a scam. The 52-year-old salesman said he first received a phone call inviting him to attend a briefing on a new business opportunity scheme. “I was told about the new E-Kiosk machines that I should invest in as it would give good monthly returns. I was even assured that I would be getting at least RM2,800 per month from the sales of mobile phone reload coupons as well as commissions from utility bills paid through the machines which would be placed at strategic locations.”
Liang accepted the deal and said he was also allowed to buy part ownership of the machine as he did not have enough for one full kiosk which amounted to RM60,000. He claimed that there were also representatives from various credit card companies on hand offering different deals in financing the kiosk. “My credit cards were approved on the spot.” A month later, he started receiving payments from the company, which varied from RM300 to RM400 a month, totalling some RM2,500 as of October last year. “I do not know how the calculation for the income was made but that was the total I had received from them,” said Liang, who had not seen the machine he had “bought”. He was told that E-Kiosk’s company managed the machines elsewhere, while he held only a small share of it through investing in their business. However, since October last year, payments to him had stopped abruptly. He went back to look for the office but it was no longer in operation. “I called the number of the person I used to deal with but each time a different person picked up informing me someone would contact me soon,” he said.
Case 2:
According to Michael Chong of the MCA Public Services and Complaints Department, people are still falling victims to scams despite all the press reports highlighting the dangers and the victims’ hard lessons. “This has been happening since 2001. We had all these to alert the public to be careful but these things still happen. People just never learn,” says Chong. “They must ask themselves: How can money just fall from the sky like that? Even the educated ones fall prey to such scams.” One reason could be naivety but the other could be greed.
In 2007, Chong’s department handled 57 cases amounting to RM2.53mil but last year it decreased to 10 cases amounting to losses of RM440,000. Usually, handphone users receive a message that they have won a prize and to be eligible to get the prize money, they have to call a certain number. They are instructed to remit money to the scammers’ account via ATM or through Internet banking for “tax” purposes. The scammers usually use the names of big corporations such as Shell and Petronas, with the prize money ranging from RM10,000 to RM20,000. “They respond quickly. But if you ask too many questions, they will usually cut the call short.” He adds that these scammers are smart and will ask for your name as verification. “They make it look more authentic. They say it will take a few minutes to go through the system.” Chong says that the prize money “offered” has come down a lot as people do not believe they have won millions just like that. He also claims that the syndicates involved make use of bank accounts of illegal workers or students who get a cut of the money. Despite all the warnings he has given, Chong believes that more people will fall victim to such scams. “Just mark my words. There will be people who fall for it this year,” he says.
Case 3:
To the untrained eye, the fraud website looks identical to the bank’s official one; to the naive recipient, the sms on winning a prize seems genuine. It is not surprising then that cyber-crime has risen by 619% over the past year.
Kavitha, a 34-year-old executive of an oil and gas company, received an email last September purportedly from her bank, asking her to update her account because it was upgrading its server. The message looked genuine, so Kavitha had no qualms about entering her Internet banking user ID and password into a website which was a “perfect” replica of the original. “The website looked the same as the original, so I did not hesitate to ‘update’ my account. I was told not to log in for a few hours after the so-called update. A few days later, I tried to withdraw money from my account, but it was empty.” Kavitha lost RM4,100 but she was lucky. There are others who would have much more siphoned from their accounts.
Kavitha claims she was not aware of the scam. She is not alone, as 165 complaints on unauthorised withdrawals were received by Bank Negara Malaysia last year. And all the cases were due to customers knowingly or unknowingly giving out their personal information such as personal identification numbers (PIN) and passwords to third parties or fraudulent parties. As in her case, the email persuades customers to ‘update’ their online banking details, usually by informing them that the bank is upgrading its security system, and that if the customer fails to update these details, their Internet banking access would be terminated. The link in the email directs the customers to a phishing website.
“It is really hard to tell that the website is fake,” insisted Kavitha. But actually, it is fairly easy to replicate a website. All the phisher needs to do is to create a look-alike website with the same identity, logos, colours and links. “Methods used to steal users’ personal details vary, but typically phishers would embed certain programmes that are designed to capture their login ID and password once a user enters personal or account information in the relevant fields. The URL or web address would also closely mirror the actual site,” a net security consultant said.
Case 4:
Even a doctor has fallen for a “scratch-and-win” scam. 26-year-old Dr Yep was approached by two teenagers at the parking lot of a hotel and told that two shopping complexes were having a lucky draw contest. Not suspecting anything, he picked several envelopes offered to him to see what he had won. “When I opened the envelope, I found a red and yellow ticket with a silver stamp on it. The two teenagers became very excited and told me I had won the grand prize. They said they would get RM1,000 each from their boss as commission.” Dr Yep said the teenagers then invited him to their office, located near a shopping complex in Taman Mount Austin. At the office, Dr Yep met their manager who congratulated him for winning the grand prize. “They put several boxes in front of me and one of the teenagers kept insisting the boxes were free.” The manager wanted his identity card and credit card as proof, so he could get the prize. “The manager then gave me some papers to sign and two credit card receipts worth almost RM6,000.” The manager said the RM6,000 was for the prize, although the teenagers had told him it was free. “My parents called the manager and told him we would make a police report, but he told them to go ahead and make the report,” he added. Two hours later, Dr Yep went back to the office but found it closed. He then went to the police station to make a report.
Case 5:
“I was with my friend, Yau, when two young people approached us. The young man and woman told me that their basic salaries were low and they could earn commission if I participated in the lucky draw. I felt sorry for them and agreed,” 32-year-old Toh said. she did not have to scratch, but tear four tickets and the last one bore a “Special Gift” image. “They said the gifts were discount vouchers that could be used at the IOI Mall. I then followed them to their office in Jalan Kinrara, Bandar Puchong Jaya, to collect the gifts. Their colleagues took over and informed me that I had won a luxury car but in order to redeem the car, I had to pay them RM6,900 as advertisement fees. They wanted to publish the good news in the newspapers,” Toh said.
“Yau called to tell that I might be conned but I brushed him aside. I was excited as they made it sound as if I would surely get the car. I gave them my credit cards when they wanted to check whether the credit balance was enough to pay the RM6,900. They even gave me their ICs to persuade me to hand over my credit cards. I didn’t realise that they had already swiped my cards,” she said. Things took a downturn almost at once. The members, after examining the ticket, told Toh she had only won home appliances like jade mattresses, foot massager, home theatre system and digital stoves.
Case 6:
A 56-year-old Singaporean taxi driver lost RM10,000 after he was duped into participating in the scratch-and-win scam. The incident occurred when four teenagers approached Tan while he was meeting a friend at a petrol station along Jalan Tun Abd Razak in Johor Bahru. Tan said the teens persuaded him to try his luck at a lucky draw. “My friend and I tried our luck and I was told I won three cars. I was told to go to their office in Mount Austin to collect my prizes.” At the office, Tan was greeted by the staff who congratulated him. “They said that before I collect my prizes, I had to pay a government tax of about RM6,000. I gave them my credit card. A teenager told me he had also won some electronic products, vitamin supplements and a sound system set.” He said he was again told to pay another sum of money before collecting the prizes he had won. “I cleaned out my two Malaysian bank accounts and gave them an additional RM9,000 for ‘tax’. “After giving them the money, I sensed something amiss and confronted them,” adding that he demanded for them to return his money. “After arguing with them, they only returned RM5,000, claiming it was company policy not to return more than that.”
Case 7:
They call their victims, pretending to be policemen, High Court officials and even prosecutors. These scam artists will lead the victims to believe they are being investigated for bankruptcy, money laundering or loan shark activities. The callers then offer to “assist” and coax the victims to transfer huge amounts of money out of their accounts – supposedly under investigation – into other accounts. And the victims are told that the money will be returned after investigations are completed. Once the money is transferred, the con men terminate communication.
In one case, a retired teacher lost her life savings of about RM380,000. The teacher, in her 50s, received a call from a person claiming to be a court official, alleging she was being investigated over loan shark activities. Within minutes, a man claiming to be a policeman from Bukit Aman called, saying her account would be frozen and demanded to know how much money she had. The “policeman” said he was able to “help” her provided she transferred the money to three separate accounts. The teacher initially refused, but the man threatened to arrest and prosecute her for being involved in Ah Long activities. The worried woman then rushed to the bank and did as told. However, she suspected something amiss and decided to check with the court and also Bukit Aman. There was no such case or police officer. She later lodged a report when she discovered her money had been withdrawn within hours after deposit. It is learnt that there were also other cases previously including two Singaporeans who lost almost S$900,000 (RM2.07mil). The syndicate convinced both the victims to transfer their money out of banks in Singapore and into local Malaysian accounts.
Case 8: A letter by a conned student
“I am a college student and wanted to earn some pocket money during my semester break. On Nov 19, I went for a job interview as a data entry participant and was promised RM6.80 a page. During the interview, they asked me to pay RM163 as deposit. I paid them on Nov 21 and was given an agreement to sign. They told me to wait for five working days for a call from the customer service to get me the job. I waited for 10 days and no one called me. I called them but their lines were always engaged. When I finally got through, they said I could not get the job as the company which was to hire me was undergoing a change in management. So they asked me to wait. Until now, I have not got any call from them. I have come to know now that the company also operates on the Internet. Many people have made reports against them. Why has no action been taken?”
Case 9:
Police in Johor have warned the public over a lottery ticket scam believed to be controlled by a group of foreigners who would approach senior citizens with forged lottery tickets and a set of winning numbers. They normally tell the unsuspecting people a sad story before offering to sell the “winning ticket.” They tell the elderly people that they won the lottery but could not claim the money because they do not have valid documents. They would also say that they need cash urgently to pay for medical bills of a family member,” said the police representative who added that they would then offer to sell the winning ticket, supposedly worth RM100,000, for just several thousand ringgit.
Case 10: Another letter in the Press
“I am a victim of a home-based job scam. I too have signed up with a Kuala Lumpur company. After promising me that I would get “assignments” within three days, they asked me to pay a non-refundable administration fee of RM179. It has been four months now and I have yet to receive any assignment. But they are still advertising. I want to warn jobseekers not to fall into the trap. They just want your money!”