PERHAPS the worsening economy of the country has pressed for scammers to become more efficient and better at their work.
Lately, there is no shortage of cases where people were either being scammed or were subjected to a scam, as shared by netizens in a viral post.
The post on X by netizen Amir Jahari became a fertile ground for sharing when he highlighted a call from a man who was masquerading as a Malaysian Communications & Multimedia Commission (MCMC) officer from Bukit Besi, Terengganu.
“He even gave me the number for investigation and asked me to make a report to the police,” Amir claimed.
Ini thread. Gila betul scammer ni. Ada laki ni call aku bagitau dia pegawai MCMC dari Bukit Besi Terengganu. Dia kata number phone aku kena hack di whatsapp & telegram buat link pinjaman. Dia siap bagi number siasatan etc.. then dia suruh aku report polis. pic.twitter.com/4HslkvHydY
— Amir Jahari (@amirjaharimuzik) December 29, 2024
Amir said that it was really convincing from the way he spoke and that got him worried that his phone may have been hacked.
“But what made me curious was that he connected my line directly to the Terengganu police. Then I hung up the phone,” said Amir, adding that the man called back later using the same number, asking why he hung up the phone, which made him suspicious.
According to Amir, he put down the phone once more and called MCMC Terengganu, asking if there was an officer by the name of Steven Chia there.
MCMC said there was no Chinese officer there, immediately exposing it to be an elaborate scam.
Many other netizens have since come forward to share their own experience at being scammed or were subjected to an unsuccessful scam.
Netizen miema07 said someone from the Health Ministry once called her up, saying she was selling prohibited items on Shopee, and that the police were after her.
“I answered that they should just arrest me as it was easier to sit in jail where people are responsible for my meals,” miema07 said, adding that she was coincidentally at the Health Ministry during the call.
She even inquired with the scammer on the place where she could surrender herself.
A cheeky Ahmad said he was a victim from MCMC too, but he pretended to be stupid by asking if he could take the MCMC at which clinic and how many days he could take the MC.
Ahmad claimed that the scammer became silent, then cursed out of frustration.
Mimizuzu added that she was called up by a Malay uncle from MCMC too, who stated that her number was used in Bintulu to spread false information.
According to the scammer, he had to block the number and blacklist her.
“It’s alright, you can block it. I have another number,” said Mimizuzu, to which the uncle replied, “We can’t do that. What about your good name, miss?”
“And he is helping me to be worried,” Mimuzuzu said.
Looking through all the comments from our local netizens and the way they prank these scammers, we do believe the profession of scamming is not an easy one.
Sadly, there will always be that gullible person who falls for such scams as seen in the many news reports in the past.
Scammers are becoming more creative and advanced, and it can only mean one thing. We must be equally as smart or smarter than these faceless liars. —Dec 30, 2024
Main image: Getty Images
