JOHOR BARU – Cases of compromised business emails involving individuals or companies in Johor have caused losses amounting to RM802,890 from January 1 to last Wednesday, said state police.
However, Johor Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) chief Amran Md Jusin said the total losses showed a falling trend compared to the RM3.43 million total losses recorded during the same period last year.
“The modus operandi used by syndicates is by sending an email similar to the real email of a business partner of the victim or company and ordering them to carry out payment to other bank accounts, and not the usual bank account used by the business partner.
“In this regard, members of the public especially traders and company owners communicating with business partners via email have to be careful when receiving such emails,” he said in a statement today.
Meanwhile, he said RM259,450 in losses were recorded in cases of fraud by impersonation as partners or certain individuals in order to borrow money via the Telegram app in the same period this year.
Amran said the figure involved 39 cases, and also saw a drop compared to the figure of RM462,368 with 75 cases recorded during the same period last year.
“The modus operandi of such syndicates is to hack the Telegram account of the victim and contact the list of friends by using the profile picture of the victim to seek financial assistance.
“To avoid such incidents from recurring, the people are advised to activate the confirmation of security pin as a two-step verification for their Telegram accounts,” he said.
He advised members of the public encountering such problems to contact the CCID Scam Response Centre at 03-2610-1559 or 03-2610-1599 to obtain further information. – Bernama, April 30, 2022
