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PETALING JAYA, Nov 4 — Predictably when the mobile phone rings, it’s one of their son or husband. So, it was no different when 18 women received calls with the caller ID of their loved ones, except that a so called “narcotics police officer” was on the other end.
The women, all from Selangor were told by a certain “Inspector Wong” and “Inspector Faizal” their sons or husbands had been arrested for having drugs and had to pay money for their release.
They heard their sons and husbands crying over the phone. That convinced the women that they were in custody and police had used their ‘phones’ to call them.
But in reality, their sons and husbands were at work and they were dealing with fraudsters.
The women, aged between 28 and 70, parted between RM500 and RM50,000, totalling RM195,000.
The money was paid to people they never met and they were told to make the payouts in strange places.
Petaling Jaya police chief ACP Azmi Abu Kassim said 18 such cases were reported in Selangor last month, including eight in his district.
He said initial investigations revealed the fraudsters had used the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in their “vishing” scam.
With the VoIP, scammers can call a person’s landline or cellular phone with cloned phone numbers.
Azmi said the fraudsters were focused and knew their victims, their financial backgrounds, and how close their family ties were.
“The fraudsters would study the background of their targets before making their move on them. The targets are mostly elderly mothers who stay alone at home.”
He said the victims admitted they believed the calls because they were the legitimate phone numbers of their children and husbands, and they got to speak to their so-called “loved ones”.
“The fraudsters would convince the mothers by passing the phone to their ‘actors’ who will cry and ask for help so the mothers won’t suspect anything,” he said.
None of the women contacted their children’s colleagues to determine if they were at work. Instead, they gave the cash to the fraudsters within hours.
“The calls will be made in the morning. By noon, the fraudsters will receive the money and the victim will only realise there were cheated in the evening,” he said.
They placed cash wrapped in newspapers in garbage bins, under cars at a parking lot, bus stops, phone booths, petrol kiosks, entrances to banks and a Chinese temple, all around Petaling Jaya.
Azmi said calls made by the fraudsters were traced to a telecommunications provider in Africa while the bulk of it was made locally.
Police are investigating if foreigners were involved and if they obtained information on their targets from local accomplices.
Hei said the victims’ children and husbands did not have any criminal records
