Scam detected after two make complaints
Posted on February 27, 2012, Monday
SIBU: An Internet scam using fictitious websites and fake business addresses has been detected.
The scam is believed to be operated by a foreign syndicate to fleece unsuspecting consumers of their hard-earned money.
Disclosing that they have received two complaints on such fraudulent activity, Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism (MDTCC) Sibu branch chief Balraj Singh said both victims lost thousands of ringgit to these fly-by-night operators.
He did not discount the possibility that this syndicate was in cahoots with locals to cheat consumers, who had a penchant for online shopping, saying that there may be more cases that went unreported.
"We have investigated both cases which exhibited similar modus operandi where both complainants were asked to bank in their money into a local bank account only to discover the owner had absconded with their cash.
He revealed that they had checked with relevant authorities on the businesses, and found them to be non-existence.
"But the saddest part about the whole thing was that both victims paid for goods that they never received. We have been to the business address provided in their proforma invoice but it was non-existent.
"As we believe that both cases involved a syndicated job, we referred them to the police for further action," Balraj told The Borneo Post, cautioning consumers to purchase products only from the trusted sources or established firms and should not be tricked into the too-good-to-be-true offers or rock bottom prices.
Balraj warned that these unscrupulous individuals would shut down the website after the scam and open a new website to con new unsuspecting consumers.
Relating the first incident, he said the complaint was made by a peninsula consumer, filed online, where the complainant claimed that he was instructed by the 'seller' to bank-in RM1,800 for a synth workstation music keyboard.
The company purportedly had a trading address in Sibu, he noted.
The victim was later given assurance that he would receive the goods via courier in a matter of days with a proforma invoice issued to avoid suspicion.
"But when the item did not arrive as promised, the buyer contacted a so-called courier staff. To his surprise, he was told by the staff that the salesman had ordered a wrong quantity and asked for the delivery to be halted.
"However, to get his goods, he would need to bank-in another RM2,000 as 'security' deposit which would be refunded when the buyer returned the extra units later. He also called the salesman and got a similar answer. But, attempts to seek further clarification from the salesman failed.
"Smelling a rat, he decided to file an online complaint to the ministry, which we immediately investigated," said Balraj.
Asked about the courier staff, he believed the person could be in cahoots with the syndicate and simply gave the name of a courier company to hoodwink consumers.
He recalled their enforcement officers going to the ground to check on the so called trading premises and made numerous calls to the seller based on the contact information provided.
Further, he was puzzled upon checking the website that the wordings were unclear accompanied by a small contact number, which was not easily visible.
"But what fuelled our suspicion was the foreign accent of the so-called seller who spoke like someone from an African country. And each time, we called him, he would give excuses he was somewhere else and in the end our calls went unanswered," he said.
The second fraudulent case involved a local purchasing a camera online from a seller with a trading address in a shopping complex in Bintulu.
Again, the buyer was instructed to bank the money and sensing nothing unusual, he gladly obliged to deposit RM2,400.
"As in the first case, the second victim was asked to bank in more money to get his goods. sense that he had been conned, he lodged a complaint with us," the local chief said.
According to Balraj the victim had also gotten in touch (via Internet) with others who had succumbed to such a scam and informed them (MDTCC staff) that one victim suferred heavy losses due to the con job.
Balraj advised prospective buyers shop online to vet the background of the company the are doing business with.
"They should take into consideration things such as warranty and should not be tricked by the rock bottom prices," he advised.
Established companies or genuine businesses would provide proper documentation to buyers, indicating that a transaction had been completed, Balraj advised.
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