This might not be the first time you’ve heard…
“Don’t give away your details!”
“Always verify the number!”
“Don’t believe what they say!”
But with all the stress of working from home, the likelihood of being a possible scam victim is not always at the forefront of our minds. What more if they catch you on a bad day – you’re likely to forget these warnings. Case in point: How I spent my morning on day 34 of the movement control order (MCO). Now, bear with me because, throughout this article, you’re going to think, “BUT THAT’S AN OBVIOUS RED FLAG!”. I’m not a gullible person; I usually know when something comes off as fishy but again, everything that happened was so meticulous that I was 40 minutes into the call before I realised what was really happening…
At 9:47AM, I received a call. Thinking that it was from a delivery guy for cat food, I answered without looking at the number (+013-5534972). Had I checked the number before answering, this probably wouldn’t have happened. It was an automated message stating that I had overdue income tax payments to LHDN (Inland Revenue Board Malaysia). I usually ignore these calls but some force compelled me to *press 9 to speak to an operator*
Once connected, a lady proceeded to ask me for my tax number, IC number and full name, as per normal when you make a call through a call centre. This lady was really nice and her voice was steady. She told me that she would connect me to an officer who would handle my case, giving me the file number: PHG1330792020. Officer S Nizam* (probably not his real name or a stolen identity), then proceeded to ask me for my file number, and my details once again (name, IC, phone number). He then asked why I hadn’t paid income tax for the company “A___ M&S” in Kuantan. Confused, I told him that I hadn’t registered a company of that sort under my name. He then asked questions like:
Did you lose your IC?
Did you give your details to anyone online?
He suggested that I file a police report. He fed me the information I needed to tell the “police” and said that I needed them to “send a copy of the report to LHDN Pahang & Cyberjaya before 11 AM today or risk being charged the overdue sum of money”. He asked for my address “so he could mail the report to me“. I panicked as by then, it was bordering on 10:20 AM. The information I needed to note down was:
File number: PHG1330792020
SSM NUMBER: C____________
Company name: *A___ M & S
Applied at: SSM KUANTAN, PAHANG BRANCH
Approved Date: 8TH NOVEMBER 2018, Thursday
Overdue income tax: RM38,600.90
Officer name: S Nizam – Operations Officer, LHDN Cyberjaya(*A___ M&S is a real company in Kuantan, I have reached out to them to let them know that someone is using their identity as part of a scam.)
[Here’s where I should have gone, “Hold up, is this real?”] Officer Nizam asked me to dial “999” but without needing to hang up my current call with him. I was then connected to a surly sounding officer. To verify that I was speaking to a legitimate officer in Kuantan, he made me Google “IPK Pahang” and check for the phone number of the police station. By clicking on Malaysia Central, I got the number “09-505 2222”. He then said he would call me with that number and proceeded to do so. When the call came, the number came up as “+08095052222”. This confused me but the “Police Officer” played it off as the “code/case number” to prove that he was an actual officer. He asked why I was calling and I explained the situation. He asked me to isolate myself as the call was going to be recorded and would not count as an “official record for police investigation” if there was noise in the background. I moved into a quiet room and then relayed all the information above as per Officer Nizam’s instructions.
The “police officer” then asked me if I had the amount (RM38,600.90) in my account in the event that the bank does deduct the money from my account – I said that I did not. [What 25 year old has RM38k just lying around in a bank account cause hello, I would like to have coffee – on you.] He then asked me to name all the active bank accounts I had. I told him the accounts I had open (e.g. RHB, etc.) but did not elaborate further [Yay me! The first smart thing I’ve done thus far in this call!]. He then asked me “How much do you have in each account?”
[I swear my mind was screaming “WHY DO YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS?”] I played it off as not remembering the amount. He asked that I log in online to check or give him a rough estimate. I refused. He threatened me with, “If the money goes missing, you cannot fault the police,” and I responded that should that happen, I would deal with the banks directly. He then used a walkie talkie to relay my IC number and report number to a lady who then responded with a long, urgent strain of sentences in Bahasa. [Here’s where I wish I paid more attention in class.]
I caught words like, “dadah” (drugs) and “tangkap” (catch) before the officer angrily accused me of lying to him about my accounts. Apparently, his records showed that I had a UOB current account in Kuantan and I am wanted for links to a drug dealer and man named Tan May Peck (or something along these lines. This is the name given by the scammer and any connection to a person in real life with the same name might otherwise be false). Flustered, I told him that I’d never been to Kuantan, and I didn’t know this man. He forwarded me to his “higher up” to “be dealt with”.
The higher up, an incredibly rude man who tried to intimidate me and emotionally manipulate me by spending 5 minutes grilling me on why I was rude and if I spoke to everyone disrespectfully. [Honestly, my Bahasa is just that bad] He then went off with this story my apparent connection to Tan:
“Tan May Peck was wanted for drug dealing and money laundering. When the police raided his house, they found a stash of ATM cards and bank books. Amongst those cards and books was an ATM card for a UOB account registered under my name. When they questioned Tan, he told them that the ATM cards and accounts belonged to people who sold him their identities for a pay-out of RM228,000.”
He then proceeded to play good cop – bad cop (both roles by himself) and shout at me for lying and for being a possible drug dealer. He asked me if I knew what was needed to open a bank account (your IC and your thumbprint) and if I had my thumb attached to me at present. [He talked to me about my thumb for 2 minutes…] If I did, he countered, how was the account in Kuantan opened without my being there? He kept pushing two points in order to fluster me:
How was the account opened if you were not there?
What can you provide to prove that it wasn’t you that opened the account and received money from Tan?
I refused to give in and asked him to send actual police to my home if he wanted me to provide information like bank statements. He then proceeded to send me an image of a “Notis Kehadiran Suspek Adalah Wajib” (A Warrant For The Presence of A Suspect) to say that if I didn’t prove myself as having no relations to Tan, I would be held for 40 days.
By now, I was texting my boss for advice and she asked for me to hang up immediately. The “officer” must have noticed my silence and asked what I was doing and if I was contacting anyone because that was “against the law” as per the “warrant”. Without a word, I hung up.
To avoid being in the same situation, ignore…
• Requests for your personal data (such as your identity card number or your credit card number) to verify your identity.
• Instructions to return their call at a different phone number than the one shown by the Caller ID.
• Claims that you have won a prize but need your bank details or a form of some payment to facilitate the claims process.
• Claims that you have unpaid fees or fines that you need to pay on the same day to avoid legal action.
• Requests to verify a PIN code sent to your phone without you having personally initiated an update to an account, service, or profile.
If you find that you are in the situation…
• Record your call.
• Try to get their details in full (their names, “designations”).
•Avoid saying “Yes”, “I agree” or “I understand” as they may use the recording against you in the future.
• Make a police report right after and provide as many details as possible.
• Call your bank to alert them that someone has your details and may try to access your account or move funds around. They will advise if you need to freeze your account or change your details.
True Caller, an anti-spam mobile application, reported that in 2019, there was a 24% jump in spam calls, placing Malaysia at number 19 in the list of countries affected by spam calls that year.
Other reported instances of scams…
• A call from Pos Laju about an uncollected parcel that is then used to direct you to the police over a “money laundering trail”.
• A telco representative calling to inform you that your phone line has been used for illegal gambling.
• Someone from the KL Traffic Enforcement & Investigation asks you to report yourself to the nearest station after being implicated in a road accident and you’re then asked to make a payment to have the issue settled.
• A “friend”/ “relative” calls from an unknown number saying that they’ve changed numbers/lost their phone and need to borrow money.
This is a true account ya’ll so please, please, please be aware that scams are still being run day in and day out, regardless of the MCO, EMCO, CMCO, TMCO – if anything, this is the perfect time for them to target you. Stay safe and stay aware!
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