KUALA LUMPUR: People get conned because those who try to get them to part with their money are extremely convincing and are experts in human nature. Unless you have been victimised, you wouldn’t know where exactly the sting lies. When Fong Choong Fook, executive director and senior IT security consultant of LE Global Services Sdn Bhd (LGMS), received a suspicious phone call, he immediately sensed it was a scam and decided to record what would be a series of conversations that stretched over two days. It was an elaborate scam, with the scammers impersonating personnel from a local bank and the Malaysian central bank. In this case, the scammers tapped into the victim’s fear of losing his hard-earned money to scare him into unwittingly emptying his bank accounts. Being an expert on bank security, Fong created a false identity and went along with the scam to see how they operated. This is a summary of the events that unfolded. Fong received an automated interactive voice response (IVR) phone call claiming to be from a local bank. The caller told him he had spent a total of RM3,852 in a credit card transaction, and gave him a phone number to call to clarify the transaction. As he does not own a credit card from that particular bank, Fong quickly suspected this was a scam, and created a fake personality named “Kelvin” to investigate further. Kelvin: Hi, I just got a phone call from this number. I have a non-approved transaction that I need to check. Banker: Checking our systems now. Your full name and IC number, sir? (Fong provided him with the fake name and IC number he had created.) Banker: Our system says that you’ve just used your credit card and spent at a (names jewellery shop) in KLIA for a total of RM3,852. Our system called you earlier to confirm your transaction. Can we confirm that transaction? Kelvin: No, I didn’t buy anything. I’m not in KLIA now, I’m in PJ. Banker: OK Mr Kelvin, I have already cancelled this transaction for the amount RM3,852; don’t worry Sir. I need to do some confirmation with you first: our system shows that you applied for this credit card on Jan 12, 2014. Did you apply for this credit card on that day? Kelvin: No, this is not my number. I’m looking at the card right now. The man then informed Kelvin that someone had used his personal details to apply for a credit card and had been using it to make transactions since January. Kelvin is to contact the Malaysian central bank and report the incident as a credit card fraud. The banker provided Kelvin with the number of the alleged incriminating credit card, and what exactly to tell the investigators at the central bank. He also gave Kelvin the phone number to call. The number dials to a fake Bank Negara IVR system, complete with the “press One for Bahasa Malaysia” options (Fong points out that regardless of what you choose, the responses from both the IVR and the personnel were in Malay). A woman officer sat Fong through a 40-minute process where she asked him questions to ascertain where he might have accidentally allowed his personal details to be stolen. She also made Fong divulge his banking details, including the number of credit cards he holds, what bank accounts he has, and how much money is in them. To bait them, Fong claimed he had two fixed deposit accounts with RM500,000 in each of them. Aside from collecting information, the report session was also used to plant the seeds of fear in the victim. For starters, the officer told Fong that he may be one of many victims of a credit card fraud syndicate operating in the last few months. Secondly, she emphasised that if he was discovered to be part of the syndicate, he could be jailed. At the end of the session, the officer provided Fong with a report number and told him an investigative officer would contact him soon. The officer also insisted Fong should not make a police report. Later in the day, a person posing as a central bank investigator named ‘Yong’ contacted Kelvin. He then explained that he would be investigating every bank account under Kelvin’s name. The investigator also said that Kelvin could not, under any circumstances, reveal anything about the matter to another person, as it would “disrupt the investigation, and that he might be suspected of being part of the syndicate if so.” The kicker comes in the second call made by the investigator, which came the next day. Yong: I need to make a few confirmations with you first. Sir, are you certain the bank accounts that you’ve provided us are the only bank accounts that you own? Kelvin: Yes, these are the ones. Yong: Okay sir, you have to listen carefully. The court has checked that there is another account under your name that is involved in the fraud syndicate. This is a joint account with another man. Do you know who he is? Kelvin: No, who is this? Yong: Sir, the court has checked this account in the last two months and has discovered that there was a weekly withdrawal from the account of almost RM1,000 each time, with the money being banked in from Singapore. The court suspects this account is used to for money laundering. Kelvin: I don’t know this person, and this is not my account. Yong: Sir, the court has now deemed that you are a suspect involved in a money laundering scheme, and that the money under your bank accounts will be considered as ‘illegal money’. If you claim you are not involved in this, you will have to prove to the court that all of the money you own isn’t derived from any illegal activity. This, then, is the sting. In order to prove his innocence, Kelvin had to go to a home branch of the particular bank and transfer his fixed deposit savings into the accounts of two fake central bank officers, from which they would conduct the investigation. When the victim arrives at the bank, the scammer would request the victim to first make a RM50 transfer using a cash deposit machine to the fake central bank accounts. Once the transfer is made, the victim is asked to call a specific number that leads to an IVR system where he can check to see if the RM50 is being deposited. Regardless if you have done so or not, the IVR recording will still say that you’ve banked in RM50. Once done, the scammer will then instruct the victim to proceed with transferring the fixed deposit savings into the investigators’ accounts. If any of the local bank officers questions his withdrawal, Kelvin is to say that it is an emergency. This other scammer is more experienced, using several techniques to pile pressure on the victim. He projects an authoritative role over the victim, repeating certain words to constantly cow the victim. To steer the victim into the direction he wants, the scammer told Kelvin to keep his line constantly connected during the entire process, with warnings of serious consequences if the line was disconnected. Had the scam worked, Kelvin would have unwittingly deposited RM500,000 into the bank accounts of two complete strangers. That would be the last he would hear from them. This article was first published in the May 3, 2014 issue of The Heat. - See more at: theantdaily/Main/How-a-bank-scammer-works#sthash.aTmXRMX1.dpu
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 06:46:59 +0000
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