GENERALLY, scammers tend to pose as law enforcement personnel or as officers representing government agencies or ministries in their attempts to intimidate potential victims into complying with their instructions.
It was claimed recently that a woman in Johor fell for a scammer posing as an employee of electricity utility Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) claiming that she was the recipient of an electricity meter change.
Is it true that this is a new scam tactic?
VERDICT:
TRUE
This was confirmed in a statement by Tangkak OCPD Supt Roslan Mohd Talib, who said that a woman lost RM 735,000 after being contacted by a person posing as a TNB employee.
He said that a woman received a call on July 1 from a suspect who claimed to be calling from the TNB head office in Kuala Lumpur and added that the person claimed that there was an issue with a notice of a meter change at the victim's home.
"She was then connected to a 'Sjn Fatimah' claiming to be from IPD Kuantan who claimed that the victim was involved in money laundering. She was then directed to transfer her savings into several bank accounts for investigation purposes," said Supt Roslan.
Supt Roslan then added that the victim then made several money transfers between July 1 and July 19 from her account and that of her husband before being made aware of the scam when talking about it to her child.
He added that the case is being investigated as cheating under Section 420 of the Penal Code and said that the Johor police advise the public to not be taken in easily by scams.
"Get the latest information on commercial crimes from the Commercial Crime Investigation Department's official social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok," he said.
