PETALING JAYA: Police here are urging the public to be cautious of a new phone scam that has been making its rounds.
"The police have received multiple reports regarding phone scams where the modus operandi involves the scammers convincing a victim to 'loan' them money by impersonating a friend or relative," said Petaling Jaya OCPD Asst Comm Nik Ezanee Mohd Faisal.
According to ACP Nik Ezanee, the scammers would introduce themselves as an acquaintance of the victim and tell them that they were using a new number.
He said the scammers would even impersonate the voices of the victim's friends or family members to convince them to loan them the money.
"Photos of the 'friend or family member' will also be used as a profile photo to further confuse the victim.
"Victims will then bank in money into given account numbers without checking to see if it really belonged to their friend or family member," he said.
The police have received around 78 reports of cases with this modus operandi so far this year. Losses have been estimated to be around RM250,000.
"The modus operandi does not target any specific group of people but criminals will continue to fool those that are not careful with these new tactics. Check all information before taking any action that could bring about losses," he said.
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