Police are concerned that text message scams have become as serious as scratch-and-win scams
Remember that text message. If you ignored it you made a wise decision. Those who took the offer ended up losing up to RM1.2 million. SONIA RAMACHANDRAN and AUDREY VIJAINDREN call attention to the issue
AT least one report a day. That’s how serious the SMS scam is. According to police the number of scams is increasing with some victims losing up to RM1.2 million
The number of people falling prey is similar to the scratch-and-win scam before it was banned last year, police say.
The National Consumer Complaints Centre (NCCC) received 2,456 complaints and 3,133 cases were heard at the Consumer Claims Tribunal in 2006 and last year.
How much do they end up losing?
In a simple SMS scam, the highest an individual has lost is RM17,000. But one person lost RM1.2 million in an SMS lottery scam.
Commercial Crime Investigation Department Cyber and Multimedia Investigation Division assistant director ACP Mohd Kamarudin Md Din said in the past, SMS scam losses were between RM1,000 and RM5,000 as victims were asked to deposit money as “processing fees”.
But with Internet banking, the perpetrators siphon out every sen from a person’s account.
The perpetrators prey on a person’s greed by sending an SMS saying they had won a contest or lottery.
When the victim gives his account number and other details, he ends up losing his money instead.
“I’m worried because through Internet banking they can transfer out everything and just leave you RM1.
“If the cheater uses a Malaysian registered phone number we have no problem tracing it.
The problem is when a foreign registered number is used and the money is transferred out of the country.
“It is difficult for us to investigate.
“Some countries do not make it compulsory for prepaid numbers to be registered so it’s difficult for even the authorities there to trace these people,” Kamarudin said.
Although the number that the victims were asked to call was an overseas one, Kamarudin said, some people assumed it was a local 1-800 toll-free number.
“The problem is as serious as the scratch-and-win scams.
“We receive reports on this every day and these are just those who lodge reports.
“It is a nationwide problem which started in late 2005 and the number of victims is increasing.”
He said the bottom line was that the victim honestly believed he had won a prize.
“There are many genuine contests going on so people are confused whether something is real or not.
“Sometimes they even tell the victims that the contest had been approved by the police.”
Kamarudin said the cheaters were coming up with different methods of transferring money from these scams.
They were even resorting to “renting bank accounts”.
“They tell Malaysians they are doing business and that they need local bank accounts.
“They offer RM150 to open a bank account and 10 per cent of any money banked into the account.
“So each person would open up more than one account with different banks.
“All the bank books and ATM cards would be given to the middlemen involved in this.
“These accounts would then be used for the SMS victims to bank in the ‘processing fees’.
“When the money is banked in, the middlemen would receive instructions from the syndicate and withdraw and transfer the money abroad.”
Kamarudin said the victims included professionals, students, lorry drivers, housewives and kampung folk.
“People have to be aware of these types of scams.
“There is no such thing as easy money. When something is too good to be true, be suspicious and triple check before you part with your money.”
Sometimes, the victims of these scams, Kamarudin said, did not have money, but because of their greed to win the “prizes”, they get money from elsewhere and bank it into their accounts.
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission’s (MCMC) consumer complaints bureau recorded 229 complaints on SMS scams between January and May, this year.
MCMC has warned mobile telephone service providers to be wary of scams involving SMSes purportedly sent by well-known companies.
Among the organisations, products or popular shows that have been used by SMS scams, said a MCMC spokesperson, were Petronas, Maxis, Hotlink, Celcom, DiGi, Gang Starz and Akademi Fantasia.
The SMS claimed the user had won a prize or was a lucky winner.
“An example is: ‘Tahniah! Prepaid anda memenangi hadiah wang RM30,000 dari Petronas. Sila call/telefon: +62xxxxxxxxxx.’ (Congratulations! Your prepaid has won RM30,000 from Petronas. Please call/telephone: +62xxxxxxxxxx.)
“The SMS was usually sent from abroad.
“In the example above, the sender is from Indonesia (international code +62),” said the spokesperson.
Scams operated through SMS, said the spokesperson, were punishable under Section 420 of the Penal Code which carries a maximum 10 years’ jail, whipping and a fine.
“Anyone receiving a SMS from an unknown source promising prizes is advised to report the matter to the police or the telco service provider.
“People are also advised not to reveal any banking information such as account number, bank balance and not to transfer money to unknown accounts.
“Alternatively, consumers can lodge a complaint with the MCMC’s consumer complaints bureau,” said the spokesperson.
NCCC director Darshan Singh said cheaters were getting away by using drug addicts to register prepaid numbers.
“There is no way to trace these people.
“This is a big problem because when police investigate these cases, they come to a dead end.”
Darshan said consumers had a vital role to play in overcoming the problem.
“Why can’t people put in some effort into verifying these SMSes? After all, if they are willing to part with thousands of ringgit, they should at least make some calls to verify where they are putting their money.
“People should not be gullible.”
Darshan said the companies whose names are being used should also help put an end to these scams by using the mainstream media to alert the people.
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