Scammer impersonates photographer to con a woman of nearly RM13,000

Freelance photographer See Yi Hang showing a screenshot of the text conversation between Helen and his alleged impersonator. Looking on is MCA Public Services and Complaints Department deputy chief Chua Jian Boon.

JOHOR BARU: A 29-year-old freelance photographer is upset that someone has been impersonating him to ask others for money.

According to See Yi Hang, his name has been misused by an unknown person to scam a Singaporean woman, who is his industry peer.

“The woman, known as Helen, received a call from an unknown person impersonating me last Saturday (May 6) morning.

“The person told Helen that I was using a new phone number, and asked for her help to make a bank transfer of S$3,800 (RM12,733) to another person called Gary.

“The person also claimed that there were some issues with my bank account so I could not perform the transaction myself.

“Since we have known each other for several years, Helen performed the bank transfer that afternoon as requested.

“However, she only managed to transfer S$2,000 (RM6,695) due to her bank account’s daily limit, so she called back the phone number to inform (me), but the call could not get through,” See told a press conference here on Monday (May 8).

That was when she felt something was not right, and decided to contact See via email.

He said he immediately called Helen to stop her from performing further transfers as he had never asked anyone for money.

See lodged a police report here on Sunday (May 7).

Meanwhile, MCA Public Services and Complaints Department deputy chief Chua Jian Boon, who organised the press conference, advised the public to refrain from giving out any personal information or perform financial transactions without seeking verification.

The public can also check unknown telephone numbers through the police’s Semak Mule at https://semakmule.rmp.gov.my/ or using the Truecaller app, he added.