KUALA LUMPUR: Victims of phone scammers impersonating as government agency officials lost over RM57.3 million since early this year.
Federal police commercial crimes investigations department director Commissioner Datuk Mohd Kamaruddin Md Din yesterday said the losses were recorded between January and Sept 15 this year.
He said the scam syndicates randomly called their victims posing as government officials including personnel of the police, courts, Royal Customs Department, Health Ministry and Inland Revenue Board.
“The callers would put fear in their victims, making them believe they are being investigated for crime cases. Victims who fall for the ruse are asked to provide their banking particulars on the excuse their funds were being transfered to facilitate investigations and will be returned after several days. However, the funds will be gone for good.” Kamaruddin said.
He reminded the public that government agencies, especially the police do not deal with the public through telephone calls when it comes to investigations of a case.
“Police or any other government agency only make calls to make appointments with a person of interest. Subsequently, all dealings are done in person at a police station or at the government agency’s office. Moreover, we do not ask for personal particulars by phone,“ he said.
Kamaruddin urged the public to be wary of ongoing scams and take precautionary steps to avoid falling victim to it.
