Have you ever encountered such messages on Instagram?
“Salam, my name is John from USA. I am looking for old coins, old notes, duit lama for collections to buy at a high price. Please DM me.”
If you did, then this is a story where a housewife from Sarawak fell for this scam. This is a very sad tale considering how convincing it could be and there are some people that can actually fall for it.
A 31-year-old housewife in Kapit was duped of RM5,250 by an individual who contacted her on the pretext of being interested in old currency. The woman received a message from the scammer on her Instagram on January 8.
“As she had two 1989 100-cent coins from Surinam, she called up the individual, saying she wanted to sell them,” said Kapit OCPD Deputy Supt Freddy Bian.
The woman then agreed to sell the coins for US$25 (RM101.40), and the individual asked her to pay a variety of fees and taxes amounting to RM2,750. Seriously, this is way too obvious to loot someone.
After she transferred the amount requested, the scammer claimed he had not received the money and asked for another transaction with the lesser amount of RM2,500. Yes, people. She performed another transaction to the scammer.
It took her another request from the scammer to realise that she had been defrauded as the scammer asked for another RM2,500. The case is now under the investigation under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
So, what can we learn from this lesson? First of all, to know a scam is when it sounds too good to be true. Put it this way, if they really have the money to buy it from you, surely they have the money to do all the transactions.
Also, always check on their photos. Lots of ways you can determine whether it is legit or not and one of them is just follow your guts. If their photo posts have no comments from friends or simply don’t sit right with you, that should be enough red sign. If you are tech savvy a little bit, try to reverse Google Image their photo.
Then, check their language. One doesn’t have to be Grammar Nazi to dictate the language but just check the basics. These scammers are usually using too-broken-it’s-beyond-fixable English to the point it is fishy. Then, most of them are not using English as their first language and work in teams. Check the patterns and voilà.
Last but not least is think and act wisely. When you receive such messages, don’t easily react. Have a little time to think about the rationale and check the legitimacy of the person and the profile. If it gives you bad feelings and like mentioned before, too good to be true, then leave.
To conclude, we live in the technological age to which people are also in a desperate need for money. Have common sense and always be cautious on whatever you see online. Things might not be as good as it seems. Stay safe!
