Kopitiam crook hacks Good Samaritan’s phone

Compiled by C. ARUNO, ELISHA MARY EASTER and R. ARAVINTHAN

A WOMAN who lent her mobile phone to a stranger got the shock of her life when her phone was hacked soon after, reported Sin Chew Daily.

The woman said the incident happened at a kopitiam in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur.

The stranger, a man, claimed that his ewallet had run out of money and asked the woman for some cash and permission to use her phone.

He also requested her bank account number and said he would repay her.

“I didn’t think much and passed him my phone and my bank account number,” she said.

The woman was shocked to find out later that she could no longer receive or make calls on her phone.

Terrified, she asked the kopitiam owner for help and was told to contact the bank to freeze all her accounts.

“I went to the bank ... My phone started receiving a slew of one-time passwords for many transactions. I burst into tears then.

“A lady who works at the bank told me to calm down and promised to help me check,” she said.

It was found that someone had tried to transfer money out of her account several times but failed to do so because of the security measures in place.

“My heart nearly stopped. I did not expect a good deed to turn out this way.

“I am still very scared and I could not stop myself from replaying the terrifying scene in my head,” she added.

Members of the public commented, saying that the stranger could have downloaded a hacking app with the intention of stealing money from her bank account.

> A tourist visiting China’s Longmen Grottoes filled with giant Buddha statues was so in awe that he dislocated his jaw, reported China Press.

The man, who visited the tourist site on May 4, let out a gasp as he gazed upon the towering statues, some of which were nearly four storeys high. However, the gasp led to a locked jaw.

Video footage showed the man holding the bottom of his chin with his mouth wide open.

Another man can be heard describing over the public announcement system the victim’s injury and asking if there were any orthopaedic doctors among the crowd who could help.

A staff member there later told the media that a volunteer managed to unlock the man’s jaw, after which he continued his tour of the historical site.

The Longmen Grottoes is a Unesco heritage site featuring some of the finest examples of Chinese Buddhist art.

The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.