Beware of Online Scams

Man loses savings in online scam

The state commercial crime unit has been getting more reports about people being conned through various scams with the latest victim being a retired teacher who was cheated of RM200,000.

Johore Bahru State commercial crime chief Supt Wong Chong Fooi said the teacher received a text message purportedly from a Bukit Aman number in which he was told to contact a certain “inspector”.

“The bogus inspector told him that his credit cards had been used overseas by a syndicate and instructed him to transfer his money into another bank account which was safe',” he said, adding that the teacher subsequently lost all his savings.

He said these conmen would also prey on women.

“They would pretend to be from overseas, befriending the women and getting romantically involved with them online. They would later claim that they are sending them expensive gifts such as laptops and diamond rings,” he said.

The women would then be told that their gifts were held up at the Customs Department at the KL International Airport and they needed some money to get the items released.

Supt Wong said cases in which conmen solicit personal details on “cloned websites” were also on the rise.

“They would duplicate online banking websites and ask for private information, including passwords which they would use to empty bank accounts,” he said.

By Desiree Star Online