Thursday, May 27, 2010

Beware of con men.

I received this email from a friend. As it is of interest to people in Malaysia, I am putting this here as to forewarn is to forearm. As for others outside Malaysia, this is knowledge which shows crooks are certainly not stupid and they are getting smarter and better at their 'job' by the second. If it can happen here in Malaysia, it can happen anywhere else. So, take care.
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(This happened in April, 2010.)
This just happened a few minutes ago. Somebody by the name of Inspector Chew King Hwa from Bukit Aman called my husband's hand phone and was looking for me. He said that I was implicated in some money laundering cases (I really wished that I had those money). He gave a contact number which was 03-2262 6222.

when I checked online, it is true that the number belongs to Bukit Aman HQ. So I called using my office phone to the number and I was told by the operator at the Bukit Aman Headquarters that there is a syndicate with inside people from Celcom and Telekom who are running these scams. They offer to settle your case outside and ask for money to bank into certain accounts. The operator said everyday the Bukit Aman HQ receives 40-50 calls from the public, from people like me asking for verification. Bukit Aman said they will change their phone number soon because of this scam. (So, the number given may be the different next time. Caution and confirmation with the proper authorities or using a fixed line phone is necessary to ascertain the true identity of the caller.)

The clever thing about this group is that, when they call you on your hand phone, the number shown would be 03-2262 6222. I guess if you call this number from a hand phone, or directly pressing on the number received on your hand phone without re-keying in the numbers again through the keypad, you will reach the syndicate as they must have manipulated either the caller identity and created a fake line with the insiders' assistance from Celcom, Maxis or Digi. But if you call the same number using a fixed line (Telekom) as I did, then only will you be able to reach the real Bukit Aman Headquarters.

So it looks like the con men are also getting smarter. But you can straightaway tell from the way the caller speaks, that he is not very educated and hence not likely to be of the caliber of an officer.

Hope you will tell your family and friends.

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