Cell phone scam

Dear All,

I received this from a friend. It happened to him recently.

CELL PHONE CRIME
Its all started when I received a call from someone who claimed that he was from Maxis asking me to shutdown my phone for 2 hours for a 3g update to take place. As I was rushing for a meeting, I did not question him any further.

After about 45 minutes I felt very suspicious since the caller did not even introduced himself. I quickly switched on my cell phone and received several missed calls; some from my family members and several  from the number that call me earlier - 3954380.

I called my parents and I was shocked that they sounded very worried. They asked me whether I was safe. My parents told me that they had received a call from someone who claimed that they have me with them and they were asking for ransom money to let me free.

The call was so real and my parents even heard my voice crying out loud asking for help. My parent was at the bank waiting for the next call to proceed with the money transfer. I told my parents that I was safe and asked them to lodge a police report.

Right after that I received another call  from the same guy asking me to shut down my cell phone for another 1 hour. I refused to do so and hung up. They kept calling my cell phone until the battery ran flat. I myself lodged a police report and was informed by the officer that this kind of scam was quite common. However in most cases, the victim had already transferred the money! And it was impossible to get back the money. Banks could only returned back the money if the account holder agrees to do so or on the instruction of a court order.

Guys, be careful of this kind of scam. It might happen to any of us!!!

Those guys were so professional and very convincing. If they ask you to shut down your cell phone for updates, ASK THEM MORE QUESTIONS FOR EXPLANATIONS! Your friends/families should receive the same call.

Any Customer Service should introduce their NAME AT THE BEGINNING of the call. Ignore them if you don't get a name at the beginning of the call. If you received instructions from unrecognized number/person that you are not sure, make your own judgment. The BEST is DO NOT RESPOND.

If you cannot answer your loved one's call, DO CALLBACK immediately!

If you think you are SMART that you cannot be cheated, You are wrong!

Be Safe and Stay Alert!



DRM
16/12/2009