QuickCheck: Have scammers started impersonating NSRC officers?

CRIMINALS often mask their identities, a ruse as old as crime itself.

Allegedly, some scammers have found a new façade, posing as officers from the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) to deceive people.

Is this true?

Verdict:

TRUE

Beware of scammers posing as NSRC personnel, who have duped 60 victims this year.

Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Comm Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said the victims would receive calls from someone who claimed to be from the NSRC, who informed them their phone number might be cancelled as there is a report that the number was used in a scam.

"The call will then be transferred to another person, posing as a police officer.

"They will be instructed to follow every instruction until they eventually transfer funds to an account until they suffer losses," he said when contacted.

NSRC is a centre that receives one-way communication, whereby people could call to report any scam, Comm Ramli said.

"NSRC officers will not call anyone and if you receive any calls claiming to be from the centre, it is definitely a scam.

"I also hope the people will also make use of the SemakMule portal to check and verify bank accounts before making any transaction," he said.

So far, as of June 15, the police have already opened 60 investigation papers involving RM7.6mil in losses this year, Comm Ramli said.

"One of the latest cases is a 70-year-old retired factory worker in Johor who lost RM584,000 of his life savings after he received a call from scammers posing as NSRC officers," he said,