KUCHING: Single mothers are urged to be extra careful to avoid falling victims of love trap or Macau scam.
Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah made the call to warn women especially single mothers not to easily trust strangers.
“These scammers are experts. They will trick you of your money and heart,” she said during the Carnation Club of Kuching and Samarahan Division’s 10 Anniversary Dinner at a restaurant here on Friday.
Citing statistic from Sarawak Commercial Crime Investigations Department (CCID) head Supt Mustafa Kamal Gani Abdullah, Fatimah said as of last year, 87 females and 15 males were victims of African scam and love scam while in 2017 there were 111 victims.
“It was also reported that last year 120 females and 89 males were victims of Macau scam and in 2017 there were 74 victims,” she said.
Fatimah added that scammers would normally use the opportunity to cheat lonely people.
“They know you are lonely and these scammers will contact you out of the blue by email, letter, text massage or through social media,” she said.
“I know single parents work very hard to save money for their children’s education and future. It is not easy.
“So, remember please be careful and don’t be fooled by them and give your money away to people you barely know,” she pointed out.
Elaborating on scams, Fatimah said for African scam, the scammers will offer the person (victim) large sums of money on condition that he or she helps them to transfer the money out of their country.
As for love scam, the fraudsters would use emotions to extort money via various scams and blackmailing. The fraudsters would tell the person (victim) that they are sending jewelries or cash, and the items are said to be kept by Customs Dept and the person (victim) needs to pay for the release of the items.
The victims are easily deceived to make the payment and they only realised they have been cheated when the promised items (packages) never arrived.
While for Macau scam, the fraudsters would pretend to be a commercial bank officer or police officer and ask the person (victim) to confirm a credit card transaction of which the person would say that he or she did not know of.
The fraudster would also advised the victim to lodge a report with Bank Negara Malaysia by giving a contact number and the fraudster would instruct the person (victim) to provide credit information and transfer of funds.
It is usually after the bank transactions had been done that the victims realised that he or she had been cheated.
