Macau scams are on the rise with losses amounting to hundreds of millions of ringgit. According to Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID), there were 5,725 cases in 2019 with losses up to RM 254.5 million. This increased to 6,003 cases in 2020 with losses amounting to RM 287.3 million.
Examples of Three Macau Scam cases:
- In December 2020, a senior citizen lost RM 1.8 million to scammers posing as Pos Laju officials;
- In October 2020, a teacher lost RM 1.13 million to scammers impersonating the police; and,
- In July 2020, a retired teacher lost RM 1 million to scammers posing as Pos Laju and the Police.
The scammers use fear as the ultimate tool in duping consumers to surrender their savings. The scammers would pose as officers from the authorities such as the Police, Bank Negara Malaysia, Customs, and Income Tax. Some may even pretend to be from the bank or companies such as Pos Laju.
The scammers would intimidate their victims by threatening them arrest for some alleged crime such as money laundering, illegal items found in packages, overdue credit card debt, and income tax being owed to government.
After convincing the victim that they are in trouble, scammers would then get them to transfer money to given accounts to “solve” the case. The scammers would then leave with the money and the victims would only realise later that they have been cheated.
Warning to Consumers
The police will never handle a case through the phone, let alone threaten to arrest someone.
Bukit Aman reminded consumers that government agencies do not have interconnectivity, which means that the police officer can only transfer the case to another police officer not to another agency. There is no such thing for example for a police officer to transfer a call to a Bank Negara officer.
Macau syndicates often use mule accounts (Mule account is an account that is used to receive and transfer funds acquired illegally on behalf others) where the victims would be directed to transfer their money.
However, some syndicates have directed the victims to open a new bank account and connect the account to a phone number supplied by the scammer. This will enable the Transaction Authorisation Code (TAC) from the bank (used by the bank to verify if the money transfer is actually being done by the account holder) to go directly to the scammer’s phone number.
Police Action
Bukit Aman has recently set up the CCID Response Centre. It is a one –stop centre that can be contacted daily from 8 am to 8 pm. The numbers are 03-2610 1559 and 03-2610 1599. Members of the public can contact the centre to inquire about scams such as online scams or Macau scams.
The centre can also collect information from victims or those with knowledge of scams, for example the scammers phone number of the bank account number given by the scammer.
Officers at the Centre can also assist and advise consumers who have been contacted by scammers. The Centre can give confirmation whether the caller is really from any government agency.
Bukit Aman has also reminded consumers to use the “Semak Mule” online application and website to check on bank accounts used by scammers. The Semak Mule application can be downloaded via Google Play. Consumers can also log on to the website http://ccid.rmp.gov.my.semakmule/ to check whether their accounts or others were used in scams or fraudulent activities.
Protecting yourself
- When you receive a call claiming to be someone from the Authorities – Do Not Panic.
- Government and Law Enforcement Agencies cannot transfer calls between themselves to investigate fraud. For example Pos Laju cannot transfer calls to the Police.
- The Police will never call and threaten to arrest you, so if any caller makes that threat – be extremely careful.
- Be suspicious of callers who do not give any information about themselves to verify their identity.
- Never follow the scammers instructions to disclose your personal data especially banking details.
- Never give your Pin Number to anyone.
- When in doubt, check with the organisation concerned (Police, Bank Negara) by dialling the official numbers not the number given by the scammer. Do not call any number given by the scammers.
