KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 — The police have advised the public to exercise caution regarding recent scam tactics which offer electronic goods at very low prices.
Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said the scam is perpetrated via fake mobile websites created by syndicates to deceive victims.
Through collaboration with a telecommunications company, the authorities successfully traced the syndicate responsible for sending these scam links to users via SMS.
The syndicate creates a fake Base Transceiver Station (BTS) to lure users away from different telcos and switches their 4G network to 2G to send out phishing scripts.
"The victims who click on the link will be directed to a fake mobile website created by the syndicate, offering electronic goods at enticingly low prices.
"Those lured by the cheap offers proceed to make payments through a payment gateway," he said in a media briefing today.
Ramli added that during the payment process, the displayed price was significantly higher than the advertised one.
Victims who fail to double-check the payment amount may immediately lose their money after approving the payment, with no receipt of the ordered items.
He cautioned the public against clicking on any links sent via SMS.
"This is also in line with the announcement made by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission on April 28 last year, which no longer permits the sending of uniform resource locator (URL) links via SMS," Ramli said.
— Bernama
