KUALA LUMPUR – Police successfully stopped the transfer of over RM28 million to an overseas bank account after suspecting that it was associated with business email compromise (BEC) scams.
Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said this was made possible with cooperation from Bank Negara Malaysia, the financial institutions involved, and the victim who lodged a police report on Thursday.
He said based on the investigation, since January this year, the victim’s company based in Malaysia has been dealing with a company abroad to obtain liquefied petroleum gas.
“However, on June 22, the victim’s company received an email from a representative of the supplier company instructing that payment be made to a new account,” he said in a statement last night.
BEC is a type of scam targeting companies where the syndicates are believed to commit fraud by hacking the companies’ email for the purpose of monitoring their transactions before posing as business partners or suppliers to get the companies to wire transfer payments.
Ramli said the company made a payment to the account, but the victim only realised he was duped when the supplier company informed him that they have yet to receive the payment.
He said acting on information, police in collaboration with BNM and the financial institutions involved traced the bank transfers and managed to stop a sum of RM28,361,636.68 from being transferred to a foreign bank account.
Ramli said the case is still being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
He said as a preventive measure, the public, especially businesses that use email in their daily affairs, are reminded to always be careful and ensure that the email they receive is from the real buyer or seller.
“Beware if there are instructions related to a change in bank account for payment purposes. “Ideally, contact the seller or supplier company via phone call for confirmation,” he said. – Bernama, July 10, 2023
