By CHARLES RAMENDRAN
For a Klang-based physician in his 70s who only wanted to be known as Dr Ram, the message aroused no suspicion although it was from an unknown individual.
However, a single tap on a Whatsapp link sent on March 20 was all it took for him lose control over his account.
A scammer impersonating Dr Ram then began reaching out to everyone from his contact list, asking for a loan to tide him over due to an emergency.
Dr Ram said the requests sounded urgent, personal and real, with the scammers providing a bank account (which turned out to be a mule account) to receive the “loans”.
Just two days earlier, a similar scam had played out for retired newsman G. Umakanthan.
“I was in the midst of a phone call with a friend via WhatsApp when our conversation was interrupted by another caller. All I know is he claimed to be from India, but I could not make out what he was saying,” the 74-year-old said.
“Moments later, I was locked out of my own account.”
Source: The Star
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/ ... e=smartech
