I guess I should share the full story just as a precaution for others who may be as gullible as I was...
1. Basically at 4pm today while I was at work, I got a call from this Officer No.1 claiming to be a
"Pegawai Pembantu Am Mahkamah Majistret Jitra" and that his name was
Vedhanayagam. He told me that I was supposed to show up at court because I have a "tunggakan" of RM30000+ with a Maybank credit card.
2. I scolded the guy and told him I have no such credit card. I even told him off that if this was a prank/scam, then it's not funny. The scammer on the line scolded me back, saying that this is not a scam and told me to cooperate if I didn't want to get into trouble. I don't know what got into me but I was convinced by him.
3. He then told me to call the TM Directory Assistance Service number
(Tel no: 103) to verify that the number that he is using to call me and showing up on my hand phone is legit the Ibu Pejabat Polis Kontijen Kedah number
(Tel no: 047741222) and so I did. After making the 103 call, I was convinced that I was really getting a call from the police, so the thought of this call being a possible scam was so carelessly forgotten...
4. He told me that I am most likely a victim to a stolen identity case and that there was a Maybank credit card under my name with the Cawangan Maybank Changlun, Kedah. He berated me with a ton of questions like whether i have a credit card, which banks do I have an account with, where I applied for my bank accounts, any chance where I was asked to scan my thumbprint twice by a bank officer, etc. By then, i think more than 30 minutes have gone by, he seriously asked me a lot of questions and I was just so exhausted...
5. He later transferred my call to an Officer No.2, who then now started telling a whole new story... This officer [2] started asking me if I know a "
Tan Wai Seng" (exactly the same name mentioned in the recording
alcatrez shared) and I said "no". He started getting louder with me, asking me if I know "Tan Wai Seng" and whether if I was aware that he has transferred money to another account (this time Public Bank) under my name. He told me that "Tan Wai Seng" is involved with the illegal drug trade and that now I am also a suspect of a money laundering case.
6. After some "interrogating" and some warning asking me to cooperate with this case, I was transferred to a "Bank Negara officer" who basically did a rehash of what Officer No.2 did to me. He told me the name of the bank officer handling my case is "
LAW KHOON MIN" and gave me a reference number for the case. He also gave me a
CIMB account number (SCAMMER'S ACC NO: 7066170631), which I was told was set up by Bank Negara for me to transfer my money into while they "investigate" my account.
7. I was transferred again to Officer No.1, who started asking me if i understood the situation i was in and after some more warning, he told me to transfer my money into that CIMB account. He asked me to change my credit transfer limit, so that I can transfer all my money. Online transfer didn't work, so he told me to go to the nearest bank or ATM that I could.
8. I rushed to the nearest ATM and tried transferring the money but it kept cancelling on me (FORTUNATELY). I told the Office No.1 who was still on hold my situation and then he told me to call the customer service for my bank account to solve the matter.
9. At this point, 2 HOURS have passed since I first got the call. I was so mentally exhausted and I was starting to really go into full panic attack as the money just wouldn't transfer and didn't know what to do. While I was at the ATM, a colleague of mine, who was aware of the call that I got and overheard me talking on the phone, whatsapped me to warn me of scammers. I started having doubts again and began joining the dots... I googled the "047741222" number to check again whether the phone number was legit. The first link that came up on Google mentions "Ibu Pejabat Polis Kontinjen Kedah, PDRM" but then I saw this post (no.6) on Lowyat.
10. That was when I snapped out of it and quickly walked towards the police station nearby. I explained my story to the police officers there and they instantly told me it was a scam. At that time, Officer No.1/SCAMMER's line was still on hold, so I passed my phone to the real police officers. I think the scammer didn't believe that he was talking to actual police officers at first because they (the scammer and the real police officer) were on the line for a bit. After the real police officer questioned the scammer a few times for his name, position and department, the scammer finally put down the phone.
11. And then I burst into tears at the police station like the crybaby I am. lol
I was so fucking frightened and exhausted because he had me on the phone for more than 2 hours... And at that same time, I was SO relieved that the transfer attempts all failed...
This post has been edited by mikasaackerman: Sep 13 2017, 02:28 AM Attached thumbnail(s)