While we’re all at home adhering to CMCO regulations during these challenging times, it seems like more and more Malaysians are falling victim to scams left and right.
Just recently, Facebook user and college student Hong Zhen went on social media to share an incident that happened to him. It all started at 3pm on 14 November, when he received a text message from the number 68833, a number commonly used by his bank, requesting him to verify his account lest his account username gets terminated the next day.
“Since the panels linked in the information are almost exactly the same as the official website we usually use, I don’t have any doubts at the moment,” he shares on his Facebook post.
But just as he filled out all the necessary information and clicked submit, almost immediately, all the money in his account was gone.
“You may be curious about the amount of money inside. For many people, it is not too big a sum, RM3,000.”
“But for me who have not officially graduated, it is a living allowance that allows me to survive at least 6 more months in KL.”
Hong Zhen immediately lodged a police report and called the bank’s customer service to resolve the situation, but there is no guarantee of when or even if he will ever recover the money that has been drained from his account. The situation has left him frustrated, lost and confused but most of all, determined to warn those around him from facing a similar fate to his.
“After this happened, the smile on my face is really much less than before, and I was awakened by the same nightmare almost every night. No, it is not a nightmare. This is reality.
“All I can do now is to tell everyone about this, so as to prevent you from being negligent in the future to face the same situation as me, or maybe even worse than me.”
At the end of his post, he also leaves a short message to people out there who think it suitable to scam those who are vulnerable and financially struggling during this pandemic.
“As for the scammer, you may still feel at ease right now, but during this challenging period, you used means to defraud others for living expenses all in exchange for your own glory and wealth.”
“But you don’t know that those who have committed suicide due to fraud, those who have even lost their families to scams, that these deaths are because of you.”
We hope that Hong Zhen will be able to recover the RM3,000 that was stolen from him, especially during this troubling time. Remember to never click on any links sent to you without checking on their validity first!
To check if a bank account or phone number belongs to a scammer, you can use the Semak Mule app or read about it here.
Also read: Man Warns M’sians To Be Wary of Which Banks To Trust After Being Scammed Out Of RM30,000
