Citizens are being warned by the police of a potential latest scam tactic by bad actors taking advantage of the Covid 19 scare prompting many Malaysians to stay at home and do their shopping online. The scammers will befriend victims online and promise to deliver gifts like jewelry, watches and laptops to their home only later to find themselves being duped.

The syndicate uses social media platform like Twitter, Facebook and Whatsapp for their latest endeavour, once they have contacted their target, they will first deliver simple items before going on to larger gifts which the victim will then up paying higher that normal price for them. In some instances, the syndicate pretends to be the courier company and requests the victims to pay additional money for the goods to be released by customs.

Authorities are warning netizens not to be fooled by this latest scam tactic and always check the authenticity of the source of the delivery and verify them before making any payment. These syndicates will go to any extent to get their victims, giving excuse the parcel is held due to insurance deposit, the amount for the parcel has been overpaid and it requires payment to release and the amount to be later refunded.

Looks like online scammers are ahead of the curve with data analytics, they must be wary of current trends of online shopping with many youngsters opting to mail ordering their goods.  e-Commerce in Malaysia is set for exponential growth recording double digit year on year. In 2019 Statista reported online purchases in the country hitting RM13 billion as millions used their screens to shop. Scammers are using these robust growth data and coming out with elaborate schemes to cheat social platform users who wouldn’t mind getting free gifts from strangers.