Online job offer scams spiking in Negri Sembilan, says police

Negri Sembilan Commercial Crime Investigations Department chief Supt Aibee Ab Ghani.

SEREMBAN: Seventy-eight cases of individuals being scammed by fake online job offers have been reported in Negri Sembilan this year, which is a huge jump compared to only one case last year.

State Commercial Crimes Investigation Department chief Supt Aibee Ab Ghani said as of Nov 15, losses incurred by the victims amounted to RM1.2mil, versus RM7,140 last year.

"These job advertisements are put up on social media such as Facebook or Instagram and WhatsApp,” said Supt Aibee.

"The victims will be offered jobs where they will be required to pay for online purchases ordered by their so-called company, and they will be paid commissions," he added, saying that they would also be told that the payments they had made will be returned after a certain period.

He then said that all communication in these cases was done via WhatsApp and added that the victims would initially be paid commissions for the items they paid for.

"But after some time, they will be asked to pay for more purchases which involve huge amounts of money,” said Supt Aibee

"Sadly, after they do this, the victims will no longer be able to contact the suspects," he added, saying that the public should never deposit money into accounts belonging to individuals as these are merely mule accounts used by scammers.

A mule account belongs to individuals who are either aware or unaware that it is being used by scammers to cheat others.

Scammers would ask victims to transfer cash into these accounts to avoid detection, and the mule is often paid for the use of his or her account.

In some cases, the mules are recruited online for what they think is legitimate employment, and are unaware that the money they are transferring is linked to crime.

Supt Aibee said those who give details of their accounts to scammers were also committing an offence.

"The public need to be extra careful when accepting online jobs that pay high returns as this is the latest modus operandi used by scammers," he added.