E-wallet scam: Two victims lose over RM50,000
Two victims shared their harrowing experiences of getting scammed with money being siphoned out of their bank accounts.
Speaking at a press conference held at the PKR headquarters today, a family member of the first victim, who wished to be identified as Lee, shared how the victim suddenly had money siphoned out of their account.
Two victims shared their harrowing experiences of getting scammed with money being siphoned out of their bank accounts.
Speaking at a press conference held at the PKR headquarters today, a family member of the first victim, who wished to be identified as Lee, shared how the victim suddenly had money siphoned out of their account.
“My family and I were at a shop and tried to reload our Touch n Go e-wallet account when we noticed six unauthorised transactions made from our bank account.
“All six transactions were done within 20 minutes, with each transaction between RM100 and RM200.
“The scammer even printed out my family member’s bank account so the transaction went through FPX (Financial Process Exchange) and not our credit or debit cards,” shared Lee.
Online Scamming Victims Support Group secretariat Deric Teh shared another victim’s experience.
“This victim is from up north and they could not make it today but her experience involved RM50,000 getting siphoned out of her account.
“This victim had two of her cards (from two different banks) used to top up two different e-wallets, from Touch n Go and ShopeePay, respectively.
“From one of the cards, a ShopeePay account had eight different incoming transactions within an hour, totalling RM23,000.
“From her other card, about 50 different incoming transactions were made to Touch n Go and ShopeePay accounts, amounting to RM28,000,” said Teh.
Teh said the case happened a long time ago but claimed no action has been taken against the perpetrators.
“This issue happened at the end of last year but until now the victims were not able to get a refund.
“The bank even got information from the police about the receiver of the money but the name and IC number of the receiver was fake,” he said.
On a related matter, PKR communications director Lee Chean Chung said there were similarities in the modus operandi employed by scammers in siphoning their victims’ money.
“Both these situations involve the same method, where money is transferred from the victim’s bank account to a mule account before being wiped clean.
“What is scarier is that the Online Scamming Victims Support Group realised that e-wallet accounts can be easily created with a false identity.
“Money can be distributed into the mule account as well and even though an identity verification is required when taking money out of the account, it has shown the high risk of leakage and allows syndicates to channel money fast,” said the Pahang assemblyperson.
Lee also highlighted the seriousness of the issue due to the high usage of e-wallets as of late.
“Many initiatives and rewards have been given by the government lately. These include e-Pemula and e-Belia,” said Lee.
The PKR leader hoped that Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) would take action on the matter and prevent it from happening again.
“E-wallets are under the jurisdiction of BNM, so I hope they do everything in their power to stop this.
“BNM should also help the rakyat to detect weaknesses in the e-wallet system in a proactive manner,” said Lee.
