By Ahmad Abd Hamid
How long more should we endure the nonsense from scammers? Almost every day, there are reports of people being deceived by scammers.
And their losses incurred are not insignificant, often reaching tens or even hundreds of thousands, sometimes even millions of ringgit!
I reckon that this issue can be curbed if society is more vigilant. Just give a little more thought towards protecting oneself from these too-good-to-be-true schemes and learning from past incidents.
However, due to a persistent lack of awareness, ignorance or what have you, this problem still persists.
On top of it all, the publication of countless cases of people being scammed had not even served as useful lessons or reminders.
The authorities have frequently reminded the public not to fall for the scammers’ tricks. The police have even outlined the many ways that scammers usually operate as a guide to the public.
Unfortunately, past stories of woe haven’t been properly heeded. And stories of money gone in the blink of an eye continue to persist.
Interestingly, those who fall into these traps are not just ordinary people but even highly-educated ones who hold respectable jobs. Thus, it’s not just ageing retirees or ordinary civil servants who have been deceived, but also professionals like engineers, accountants, lawyers, and doctors. You name it…and almost every job group has been mesmerised by scammers.
Why has such scamming been so rampant among Malaysians? Is it greed on the victims’ part? Lack of knowledge or vigilance? It may be difficult or even too embarrassing to reveal the real answers.
Moving forward, let’s take the advice from the police more seriously. Don’t entertain calls from unknown numbers. The scammers may masquerade a number of government departments or agencies like the Customs Department, Inland Revenue Board, Royal Malaysia Police, Road Transport Department, Bank Negara or Ministry of Health. Or private entities like banks or Pos Laju. The list is almost endless.
But just remember – these bodies don’t use mobile phone numbers in their day-to-day operations to call. Hang up immediately, especially when the caller starts talking about monetary payments to solve a prickly problem that had been concocted to strike fear on the intended victim.
Besides scams threatening big penalties on their intended victims, there are also investment scams that promise juicy returns. Like getting RM7,000 in a week by just investing RM300.Such returns on investment don’t make sense at all but there are still people who believe in them and get duped in the end.
So, what do we do when faced with a situation when a scammer calls? Do not panic. Stay calm. Cut the call, Don’t entertain them at all.
Talking about staying calm or entertaining calls, there was a share remisier at Taman Tun Dr Ismail in Kuala Lumpur who was really ultra cool sometime back.
A call came through her in the middle of her cooking a nice meal during lunchtime in her work-from-home mode. The scammer told her that her car had been involved in an accident in a certain state and the authorities were after her. And she was to go to a police station to settle her “problem”.
The remisier smelt a rat. She wasn’t even in the area where she was said to be involved in the supposed accident.
Since she had plenty of time on her hands, she turned up the volume of her phone’s speaker. And she spent about 15 minutes talking to the scammer on how serious was her “problem”, how to get it solved, how to pay and how to send the money to the scammer.
But in actual fact, she was leading the scammer on. After her meal was cooked, she told the scammer that she didn’t have time to do the transaction because she needed to eat first after having cooked her meal in the last 15 minutes!
Stunned by this revelation, the scammer cut the call after he knew he had been tricked into a useless phone conversation that went nowhere.
How’s that for a change, folks?
WE