KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11 — As many as 18 cases of syndicate members impersonating as Inland Revenue Board (IRB) officers involving losses of about RM636,311 were reported from January 1 to February 9 this year.
IRB, in a statement today, said that the information was obtained from cases reported by the media.
“The tactic used by the scammer is to intimidate the victim into a panic before forcing the victim to take hasty action by handing over personal and banking details and some even voluntarily make cash payments to members of the syndicate,” the statement said.
To prevent the same thing from recurring, the public has been reminded to verify any dubious calls, emails or letters purportedly from IRB, by contacting the Hasil Care Line at 03-89111000/ 603-89111100 (overseas), or at www.hasil.gov.my or go to the nearest branch.
In addition, the public can also check the modus operandi of the syndicate at http://www.hasil.gov.my/bt_goindex.php bt_kump=10&bt_skum=1&bt_posi=1&bt_unit=2&bt_sequ=1.
As part of efforts to raise public awareness, IRB has also utilised both mainstream and social media in addition to sending official email via noreply_contactcentre@hasil.gov.my with infographics as a reminder relating to scammer activities.
“To date, a total of 2,927,400 e-mails have been sent to e-mail addresses in the IRB database and another 814,865 are still in the delivery process,” the statement said.
— Bernama
