KUALA LUMPUR: A teenager claimed that her friend had used her bank account to run an online scam involving thousands of ringgit.
Siaw Yik Zhen, 17, said she found out that her bank account was used after coming across a post on Facebook of a scam with her bank account number.
She said she did not suspect anything amiss when her primary school friend asked to use her bank account in May.
“She said she needed it to receive money from her grandmother,” Siaw said at a press conference held at MCA Public Services and Complaints Department.
“She would let me know when cash in varying amounts between RM100 and RM1,000 were banked into my account. I would withdraw the amount and give it to her.”
Siaw said a man named CW Teoh contacted her on Facebook and said her account was being used in an online scam.
“He told me that he had paid RM590 for shoes being sold by the scammer, and he had banked in the money into my account.
“I did not pass the money to my friend. I returned the money to Teoh.” She added.
Siaw said she wanted to confront her friend, but she had gone missing.
“In total, RM13,686 passed through my bank account to her. I am here today to let the public know about this scam.”
She also lodged a police report on the matter at Balai Polis Puchong on Dec 17.
MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong, who was at the press conference, expressed concern that teenagers were behind online scams nowadays.
“So far this year, I have received 22 cases of victims unknowingly allowing their bank accounts to be used for the wrong reasons,” he said.
Chong advised the public to be more cautious when dealing with their bank accounts.
Siaw Yik Zhen, 17, and MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong during a press conference on a borrowed bank account being used for online scams in Kuala Lumpur on Dec 26, 2018. — Sunpix by Asyraf Rasid
