KUCHING, March 2: Police have issued a warning regarding a new scam, where the modus operandi involves callers impersonating officers from Poslaju Malaysia, trying to get victims to check on their bank accounts.
Upon checking, victims will discover that their savings in their bank account have gone missing as well as unauthorised transactions on their credit cards.
Kuching District Police Chief ACP Ahsmon Bajah gave this warning after a local man lodged a police report after falling prey to such a scam, usually categorised as a Macau scam or phishing scam.
Ahsmon said that in 2022, there were six scam cases reported in Kuching involving losses of RM77,328.96.
“For this year up until Feb 28, five scam cases involving losses over RM1.137 million have been reported in Kuching,” he said in a statement today.
Urging members of the public to be wary of unsolicited callers trying to fish for sensitive information, Ahsmon disclosed that their tactics also involved tricking victims by saying that a transaction authorisation code (TAC) had been wrongly sent to their mobile number.
“The scammers would then use that as an excuse to get the victim to provide the TAC, reasoning that they want to use it to update the account owner’s online banking system or for confirmation purposes on goods delivery from a courier company,” he elaborated.
Ahsmon added that a total of six cases have been charged in court under Section 37(1) of the Sarawak Minor Offence Ordinance 1958.
Meanwhile, a businessman from Kuching recently lost a shocking RM1 million to a scam after answering a 14-second phone call claiming to be from Poslaju, which he claimed he did not even entertain.
Following action from the Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak, the victim surnamed Lee managed to recover all of his money from the bank which did not provide any explanation of the matter.
Victims of such scams are advised to immediately call the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) at 997 if they noticed unauthorised or unintended transactions in their bank accounts and credit cards.
Ahsmon also warned that cases investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code involving cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property carry a mandatory minimum imprisonment of one year and not more than 10 years with mandatory whipping and penalty.
Investigations will also be carried out under Section 37 of the Sarawak Minor Offence Ordinance. — DayakDaily
