KUALA LUMPUR, March 14: The police have advised the public to exercise caution regarding recent scam tactics that offer electronic goods at very low prices.
Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director, Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf, told a media briefing here today that the scam is perpetrated through the use of fake mobile websites created by syndicates to deceive victims.
He mentioned that through collaboration with a telecommunications company, law enforcement 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, he explained.
“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.
Explaining further, Ramli mentioned that during the payment process, the displayed price is 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 added.
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,” he said.
— BERNAMA