KUALA LUMPUR: A housewife who wanted to buy a cheap hamper for Chinese New Year ended up being extorted about RM2,000 and harassed on social media for a non-existent loan.
MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong said Alice Liew, 35, had on Jan 17 clicked on a link to purchase a hamper on Facebook.
She then received a message from an unknown individual claiming she applied for a RM300 loan which she did not. After checking her bank account, she noticed a RM300 transaction and she refunded RM600 to a QR code when requested by the unknown individual.
On Jan 19, she received another bank notification informing her of another RM500 transaction and shortly after, another unknown individual demanded RM1,000 as a settlement and threatened her using pictures of her family members.
Fearing for her family’s well-being, she transferred RM1,000 in two separate transactions, before the same individual demanded another RM1,000 as the final settlement.
After paying RM800 to the suspect, Liew lodged a police report at the Rawang police station on Jan 20.
"The complainant’s bank account was misused for several unauthorised transactions, resulting in further loss of about RM2,000," said Chong during a press conference at Wisma MCA on Friday (Jan 30).
Chong also said the unknown individual had slandered Liew by claiming that her entire family are scammers.
He urged the public to be careful when purchasing things online as scammers are using these tactics against vulnerable people.
MCA lawyer Victor Teoh said Liew’s case is a common issue whereby hackers are now targeting housewives looking for cheap deals on social media.
According to Teoh, Liew had lost control of her smartphone when she clicked on the link to buy the hamper, where she may have accidentally downloaded an APK file.
"Her entire phone was hacked and they had stolen some information from her when she downloaded the apk file. So, do not simply download any apk files because it can cause your entire phone to be hacked," added Teoh.
