Any Malaysian that’s old enough to drive will have heard of the more common scams that’s been making the rounds in recent years. Chances are, you’ll have already heard of love scams or Macau scams either from news outlets, social media platforms, or that one uncle who shares everything he sees in your family WhatsApp group.
Uncle, we don’t need this every morning. Img from Latestly.
That’s why when PDRM sent us a pdf of scams to write about, we thought it’d be the same old stuff, but… we were wrong. Turns out, we haven’t come of across some of the scams from the list, so yeah, here’s a heads up for y’all.
1. Non-existent Loan Scam
How it works: Scammers will put up ads or send SMSes of loans with low interest rates. Victims will then contact the scammers to try to get a loan, but before victims can get the (non-existent) money, they’ll have to pay an amount up front to “secure” the loan first. These upfront payments are usually disguised as stamp duties, legal fees or bank transfer fees. Once the upfront payment is done, the scammer disappears and can’t be contacted any more.
You should be suspicious if: You never see anyone in person to get the loan, or the lender doesn’t have a business address or office. Make sure that the company has a valid license to lend money, and cross check the company name or license number with the Ministry of Local Government Development…
