KUALA LUMPUR: Police from the Dang Wangi District police headquarters are carrying out investigations after receiving a report from a woman who had been cheated while trying to get a job via an e-commerce platform.
City Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) acting chief Superintendent Mohd Mahidisham Ishak revealed that the complainant was instructed to make seven purchase transactions and was promised she would receive payment and an eight per cent commission for each of the purchases made.
"The woman made seven purchase transactions but was only paid for two. After she was unable to make contact with the purported employers, she lodged a police report as she realised that she was cheated.
"The complainant lost RM11,194.00 and the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code. Based on the police report and from information gathered, on April 15 a police team from the commercial crimes investigations unit headquarters carried out a raid and arrested nine members of a syndicate for suspected involvement in this cheating case.
"During the ensuing raid, the team also confiscated 57 smartphones, four laptops and seven desktop computers from the syndicate which has been operating since last month from a house," revealed Mahidisham during a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur Police Headquarters yesterday.
Mahidisham said there were 67 investigation papers involving a similar Modus Operandi across the country where 27 were being investigated by the Kuala Lumpur commercial crimes investigations unit. The total losses were RM689,850.09 overall, with RM246,892.63 in Kuala Lumpur alone.
"The syndicate's Modus Operandi in attracting unsuspecting victims has three phases, with the first phase by spreading messages on job offers via WhatsApp, and in the second phase the victims will be added to a WhatsApp chat group on the pretext of making purchases via an e-commerce platform.
"In the third and final phase, the victims will receive messages from members of the syndicate together with an e-commerce link and an account number provided by the syndicate for victims to carry out purchasing transactions.
"We are still on the lookout for two more suspects who are involved in this case, and I would like to advise members of the public to be alert and cautious when coming across such job offers and dealings. Members of the public can also cross refer account numbers by logging on to http://ccid.rmp.gov.my/semakmule/ and do not to be easily influenced by job offers or deals offering high remuneration that is too good to be true," said Mahidisham.
He added that members of the public in the city can call the Kuala Lumpur Police Hotline at 03-2115 9999 or drop by any nearby police station to report any crime or dubious activities.