Phone scammers at work again

KUALA LUMPUR: Telephone scammers impersonating Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) officials have resurfaced to dupe victims into giving personal details and sending money to unknown accounts.

MCA Public Services and Complaints Department chief Datuk Seri Michael Chong said the illegal activities were carried out via phone calls, SMS and even e-mail

He said his brother had also received such a call from a “Jack Wong”, who identified himself as a bank representative. However, Chong said his brother did not fall for the trick.

Chong said the scammer would send an SMS to his intended victim, purportedly from the bank, asking to confirm whether he had used his card. The card owner would then call the scammer to deny this, and be told that his card had been used fraudulently.

Datuk Seri Michael Chong

He would be directed to call a number said to be the credit card fraud division of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), where the scammer would ask for his credit card and banking account details.

The victim is then told to transfer his money to a third-party account on the pretext of safeguarding the money. However, little would the victim realise that his money has been stolen.

Chong suspects that the scammers may have obtained the particulars and phone numbers of their victims from the telecommunication companies.

During his press conference yesterday, Chong tried to call the scammer’s numbers, 03-21683785 and 03-29804433. His call to the first number was immediately disconnected. When the second number was called, an automatic voice message said the number was not in service.

Chong said the second number was the same one used to call his brother.

“I sent out a message to 130 of my friends asking if they had been conned this way. Thirty-five of them replied saying they were victims,” he added.

Chong reminded the people not to reveal to unknown callers their personal financial information or credit card numbers.