KUCHING: Sarawak Head of Commercial Crime Department Supt Mustafa Kamal expressed delight that his tactics to outdo the scammers had worked successfully.
He hoped the people will continue to spread the tactics and the phone numbers used by the scammers.
When contacted yesterday by New Sarawak Tribune, Mustafa said he and his men had been aggressively going through social and printed media to get the message across to the people regarding the modus operandi (methods of operation) used by the scammers.
As of November 4, there were four cases reported with no one getting cheated.
Mustafa said besides using media, he and his men had gone to the ground to organise groups of people and talked to the public.
“I myself had gone to the longhouses too to tell them of how the scammers work. From there, I urged those who participated in the talk to let their family members know so that more people are aware of how financial institutions and government agencies work. I want them to know that there will never be any transaction through the phone,” he stressed.
The most common scam in Sarawak is the Macau Scam where receivers are either put in fear of traffic summon, or having killed a person in a traffic accident or their accounts being used for money
laundering and drugs purposes. The callers would always claim to be from the police, the court or Bank Negara.
Mustafa noted that in the parcel scam, it is normally used to lure lonely people to befriend them and then showering them with pretence gifts. Their tactic, he said, mostly involves the Customs, the Airport or the courier services.
Why would someone ask you to pay for delivery when you have not even received the goods, he asked.
“So it is important to exercise common sense. And if there is any talk of any money to be banked in to strangers, please talk to a family member or a friend,” he said.
Urging the people to be alert when the caller asks that they should keep the whole thing secret, it means that something sinister is going to happen, he stated.
An individual in Sibu and three from Miri avoided from being cheated by Macau Scam. The numbers used by scammers to call were 082-423000, 088-523700, 019-2352305 and 015-2482749.
