Scam in SMS and Phone Call

[Ccssgm]

S'porean raises suspicion about scam in phone call

 

The SMS that Mr Mohamed (above) received. -- TNP Pictures: ARUL JOHN

 

THE SMS message on his phone said he had won $5,000 from Malaysian oil company Petronas.

 

But Mr Mohamed Omar Mahadi thought it was odd.

 

Especially since neither he nor his wife had visited Malaysia since 2001 or taken part in any Petronas lucky draw.

 

Still, he was curious and decided to call the number on the phone to find out more.

 

A man with a Filipino accent answered.

 

Mr Mohamed, 26, a pest control operator, recounted: 'He congratulated me and asked for my handphone number and bank account number. He also told me to visit a bank branch and inform the teller of my win.

 

'I told him I thought this was a scam and asked to speak to someone higher up in Petronas. That was when he warned me not to call the number again, uttered a vulgarity and hung up.'

 

DIFFERENT DETAILS

 

Mr Mohamed lodged a police report that same day on 25 Jun.

 

He also looked up Petronas' website and found out that its contact details were different from those listed in the SMS message.

 

Mr Mohamed said the SMS message appeared to be linked to some overseas calls his wife had received about two weeks before his SMS message arrived.

 

Madam Dian, 26, a partner in her husband's pest control company, said the woman who called her identified herself as Mary, and wanted to speak to her husband.

 

She gave the caller Mr Mohamed's handphone number.

 

Madam Dian said: 'After that, I felt something was wrong, so I called my husband and told him not to answer the phone when he heard an overseas dial tone. He took my advice.'

 

Madam Dian said that Mary continued to call her several times that day and insisted on speaking to her husband.

 

Mary told Madam Dian that she was working for a company called ISS but did not elaborate. The next day, she called again and said she was from a Canadian company conducting a survey on small businesses in Singapore.'

 

Madam Dian said: 'In later calls, she even became very rude and demanded to speak to him.'

 

The woman, and later a man, continued to call Madam Dian for about 20 more times over several days.

 

When The New Paper called the phone number shown in Mr Mohamed's SMS message, a man with a Filipino accent, who identified himself as Mr Sony, claimed we had called Petronas Centre at KLCC in Malaysia.

 

Mr Sony, who claimed that he was a telephone operator, said that the prize money was given out in conjunction with Petronas' 34th anniversary this year and winners would have their money transferred to their bank accounts via Petronas' bank account in Singapore.

 

He hung up when he realised he was speaking to the press.

 

Petronas spokesman Wilson Lee said the SMS message that Mr Mohamed received was part of an SMS scam which had been reported in the Malaysian press recently.

 

He said it may have been started by Indonesians or an Indonesia-based syndicate, and also targeted some Malaysian telcos and Malaysian cable TV network Astro.

 

He said Petronas had lodged several police reports about the matter

 

I also Ever Received Call from Hong Kong and Malaysia

[Apollo]

a man with a Filipino accent, who identified himself as Mr Sony

 

How he know is Filipine accent???

 

Can u fark (fax) over to me a copy ur inkcum tax state-men

[Gnoikj]

Not trying to be ,ean or anything...but really, it seems to be VERY easy to make money off Singaporeans! The reports in the news states something like millions hve been lost to scammers?

 

haha..I should have gone into this line rather than work for a honest living...

[Route88]

Singapore ppl are honest ppl,cos the gabermen is honest

[Ccssgm]

They say U won Lucky Draw

[Gary84]

hahah Filipino accent very clear cut de mah...Like fax they pronounce "farkx",

Fifty-five dollars, they pronounce "pip-ty pie dar-lers"

[Ccssgm]

Take $$$ depoist to their bBank First

Later then can collect yr Prize

[Apollo]

the only deposit i willing to make at the bank is sperm.

 

[Chongster]

Not trying to be ,ean or anything...but really, it seems to be VERY easy to make money off Singaporeans! The reports in the news states something like millions hve been lost to scammers?

 

haha..I should have gone into this line rather than work for a honest living...

 

there are a lot of people out there with innocence that is pratically a medical condition. and these scums are taking advantage of that. fark i hate thiefs...

 

anyway, these people lucky liao, sometime just by calling back you kenna scam already because they have some kind of call collect system that routes you to trinidad or somewhere and charge u god knows how much per minute.

 

and your local telco will tell you not their problem....

Edited July 4, 2008 by Chongster

[Qpik]

Singapore ppl are honest ppl,cos the gabermen is honest

 

by this i infer you are refering to this statement

 

"It is a HONEST MISTAKE, let's move on"

[Qpik]

u

 

20yrs all yr liabilities start to appear then u

[Route88]

Honest everytime

[Mage]

its funny when u actually spell it out like that.

[Qpik]

Okay roger that you r 1 Honest Horn-y Singaporean.

 

Happy boh???

[Ccssgm]

Yr Sperm Accept by them or NOT ? [laugh]

[Robin]

he still bother to call them for me i just delete

[Qpik]

r u implying his is just shells with no gun power inside

[Qpik]

this is call trying his luck. who knows maybe it is REAL.....