MIRI: A Sarawak state assemblyman today denied that he had sent a Facebook message to his online friends offering financial aid, saying that his social media account had been hacked.
Datuk Sebastian Ting Chiew Yiew, the assemblyman for Piasau, said his Facebook account under the name ‘Seb Ting” was hacked by an unknown person and the offer of financial assistance purportedly worth $450,000 (about RM1.83 million) to disabled people, retired workers and the unemployed was a scam.
“It was not me (who sent the message). I have (since) changed my Facebook password,” he told Bernama.
Ting said he was alerted to the scam by a close friend and that he would lodge a police report today.
The secretary-general of the Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP), a component of the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) coalition, said the phone number included in the message was a Nigerian one.
Ting is the second assemblyman from GPS to become a victim of such a scam.
On Jan 18, Bekenu assemblyman and Sarawak Assistant Minister of Women, Family and Childhood Development Rosey Yunus found out that a fake Facebook account had appeared, with her name and photograph, and offering welfare aid.
She lodged a police report. – Bernama
