KUALA LUMPUR: Scammers have found a new way to prey on gullible victims by posing as civil servants and developing mobile applications to swindle their money.
City Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Assistant Commissioner Mahidisham Ishak said two men lost almost RM20,000 to a Macau scam in the latest incident.
The men were deceived by calls purportedly from Inland Revenue Board (IRB) staff and the police, who told the victims that they had falsely declared their taxes and were facing drug related offences.
"The first victim is an engineer, 36. He was duped by the scammers on Feb 15. The second victim is 29-year-old customer service officer, who lost his money to the scammers two days later.
"The victims were told to download a mobile application in which they would have to fill their details," he said in a statement.
Mahidisham said among the details the victims were asked to fill out was bank account information.
"Just minutes later, a short messaging systems notification came to their phones stating that RM5,600 was deducted from the first victim and RM13,700.50 from the bank account of the second victim," he said.
Mahidisham said this was one of the latest modus operandi Macau scammers have started using to cheat their victims.
"The cases are being investigated under Section 4(1) of the Computer Crimes Act 1997 for making unauthorised access to an individual's account," he said.
He advised the public not to download mobile applications requesting one's banking details.
"Anyone who may have any information on a crime or suspicious activity may contact the Kuala Lumpur Police Hotline at 03-21460584/0585, CCID Fraud Response Centre (03-26101559/1599) or any nearby police station," he said.