Scammer exposed " Red Handed "

A lawyer not only managed to outwit a SMS scam requiring him to transfer RM449,827 into a Bank Rakyat account bearing number 22067949008 but also set up a trap to unravel the modus operandi. JM Martin also tipped off Daily Express to witness the transaction and to voice record his handphone conversation with the confidence trickster, a woman, who spoke in Malay with an Indonesian accent.

He earlier received a SMS stating that he won a grand prize of RM20,000 from Shell Malaysia Bhd on May 22. He decided to check out the origin of the SMS on June 4 by calling the handphone 012-8108245. To win over his confidence, he was given the company's website www.shell,myl.weds.com. But upon checking, it was stated that the website had been frozen.

Martin was instructed to go to the Public Bank to make the necessary transaction to claim his prize monies. The woman called him and gave step by step instructions so that the RM20,000 would end up in his savings account.

He decided to play dumb and at times the woman would berate him when he stalled or made a mistake. She insisted the transaction on the ATM be conducted in Bahasa Malaysia, even though Martin claimed he was not well versed in the language. After he inserted his ATM card, the woman seemed fully aware of what he was doing through the sound beeps emitted from the machine as what appeared on the screen or when the card was ejected.

She asked Martin about his savings account balance and when he gave a fictitious RM23,000 she insisted it should be RM23,066.

Then, Martin was told to go to the module "Pindahan Bayaran Pinjaman" (transfer loan repayment). From there he had to enter "Pindahan Antara Bank" (inter bank transfer) and to choose Bank Rakyat. At this stage, the woman asked Martin to key in 449827 but the figure appeared as RM449,827. That was when Martin blew the lid and revealed his identity to the scammer. It was not a serial number but a sum of money to be transferred to the woman's Bank Rakyat account. A Public Bank officer who was also a witness spoke to the woman that it was a transfer of money.

However, the woman was insistent that it was a serial number to effect the prize money to Martin. She was unrattled by Martin's exposure and threats to report to the police commercial crime division. Pressing on to complete the process, she told Martin to co-operate or otherwise his account would not be active to receive the money. She also avoided giving her name, other than that her office was in Damansara, Kuala Lumpur.

From his legal experience, Martin knew it was a bid to borrow RM449,827 from Bank Rakyat using his savings account balance as collateral.

"The full loan might not get through but the con woman thought she could get her hands on the balance of the savings account which I cooked up as RM23,000," he explained.

Martin, accompanied by Daily Express, lodged a report at the Labuan police contingent's head office. He hoped that by exposing it, the public would not fall prey to such criminals. Prior to the exercise, the lawyer also briefed the bank of his plan to expose the scam.

Sources: Daily Express

" Thanks to this lawyer for his brave action. The internet scammer should be stopped once and for all."

My Life My Story: Money Loss through Banking Account

Have you ever being approached by an urgent message going through your e-mail? Asking you to update your banking account password.  I have been experiencing this but I always know this is just a fraud made by the scammer. I have posted before about this scammer through my blog and hopefully you have read it. Usually when someone got this e-mail, he/she will then being asked to fill up a form including with their banking account number. Then the scammer will sent a link that needed to be updated with the victim. The scammer used "KEY LOGGER" to steal the victim password and account number. The scammer then made it easy taking your money out from your bank account by doing simple money transfer to his/her or his/her friends account. We need to be careful with this scam activity. I hope that all the Sabahan alert with this so-called internet fraud. Continue reading below passage.....     

The public should not disclose their bank particulars to any quarters to avoid being cheated. In giving the advice, City Deputy Police Chief Supt. M. Chandra said about 10 cases have been recorded this year that involved disclosure of bank accounts that led to loss of money. "Majority of the cases occurred through the Internet where the account holders had registered for online banking and they entertained requests and questions from quarters that claimed to be from the bank." Chandra said this during a "Meet the Public" session held at Wisma Kosan in Likas, Saturday.

In addition, he said, these people would pretend to be bank officers and make contact via handphones by calling and sending short messaging services (SMSes) to obtain the account particulars. "The best way to address this kind of suspicious requests is to verify the request with the respective bank. "Do not entertain immediately those requests as it would open the way for perpetrators to commit commercial crimes," Chandra said. On another matter, he said when it comes to lending of huge sum of money, the public should have a black and white documentation to avoid problems later.

He said this in reference to a case involving an elderly woman who sought police advice at the programme, saying she had lent more than RM20,000 to her friend who has since been missing. Chandra said he advised the victim to lodge a police report so that police can investigate whether there are cheating elements in the case.

On a complaint by a resident in Kg Likas about traffic jams during the time of Maghrib prayers and school children going home, he assured that several policemen would be sent there during peak hours to regulate traffic flow. Also present in the programme were City Traffic and Public Order Chief, DSP Peter Umbuas and senior officers.

Posted By: Harry George

Sources: Daily Express

Picture: Daily Express online.

Money lost to scams

People have been alarmingly gullible this year, losing about RM78 million up to August to a myriad of scams which they have been time and again warned about by police.

State Commercial Crime Investigation Department Chief, Supt Jauteh Dikun, said though there were not as many cases the amount of money lost to such scams had nearly doubled from RM44 million two years ago.

"There are people who are still so gullible despite numerous reports and advice from the police. If we look at the statistics for the past eight months, we see that a total of 868 cases had been reported whereas it was 896 during the same period last year.

"But the total losses have increased so much even though the reports have reduced, involving Internet scams, short messaging services, the Macau scam, 4-digit scams and land scams among others," he said.

"A total of 16 people including five women involved in the 'Internet Casanova/parcel scam' have been arrested, thus far, compared to the arrest of two men and a woman last year, whereas 24 others were arrested for different offences compared to 20 in 2010," Jauteh stated.

In this resepct, he revealed that the latest case involved a 24-year-old man in Sandakan, who received a text message stating that he could claim a prize from the nearest Milimewa Superstore if he topped up RM500 on a handphone number.

"The victim realised that he was cheated when he went to a Milimewa Superstore nearby after following the instructions and found that there was no such contest," he stated.

This was the most recent contest scam used known as Peraduan Milimewa where the topped up credits are believed to be shared among other syndicate members to send false messages to its victims.

Suspects in previous cases have already been hauled in to facilitate investigations, Jauteh said, adding that most of the SMS scams involved foreigners from neighbouring countries.

"There were seven of them including a local man arrested last month but we think there is a possibility that the original syndicate has split up because there is a new group operating now," he said.

He added that there had been four reports involving about RM2,000 losses so far in the Milimewa contest scam.

Meanwhile, he also warned the public against trusting people on the Internet especially when they have money-related transactions.

"For example, when you buy something through the Internet or online, do not bank in any money unless you have seen the property or met the salesperson," Jauteh suggested.

Story Arrangement By: Harry George

Sources: Daily Express News Paper

Picture: Google Image

Direct Link: http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=79125