A few days ago, people in Sibu got a call from WhatsApp. The phone showed the name of the telecommunications company, so people answered. The caller confirmed the number in fluent Malay and said that the phone company in Kuala Lumpur had sent a message to verify the number and that you could get 3 months of free service if you told them the number in the message.
“I got a message from the phone company telling me about the 5G package. I thought I would use the free 5G package, so I asked the other person if it was 5G. The other person stuttered and said that if you gave the number, you could get three months for free. I knew then that something was wrong.”
The people then stopped talking and looked at their text messages on their cell phones. They saw that there were, in fact, messages with OTP numbers from the phone companies.
“Messages sent by the same telecommunications company usually go into the same message category because the sending number or route is the same. But the message in question doesn’t have the name of the telecommunications company in the telecommunications company message field on my cell phone, even though it does include the name of the telecommunications company. This means that the person sending the message is using a different number. It might be a trap.”
When people asked for more information, the conversation continued with words like “free 3 months” to keep them interested. The people then asked, “Do you want an OTP number?” At this point, the other person hung up the phone right away. How do I know if you’re an honest telecom company or a scammer?
When the people asked the telecom company the next day if there was a free plan, they were told that other users had recently asked the same thing and that the company was glad the people didn’t give out their OTP numbers because then their phone bills would have been stolen or their accounts would have gone up. And the phone number 011-5797XXXX is not registered with the telecom company. Other customers have also confirmed that the number needs to be corrected.
“The staff told me that some people will ask for a video call when they get similar calls to see if the other person is from the telecom company. The other person will answer. The picture came out, and the other person was wearing a uniform from a telecommunications company that was made to look very similar to everyone else’s. People think that the other side is a local phone company, so that they will trust the other side. The people who work at the phone company will need only video call people to tell them to pay attention.
The company also reminded the public that if they want to know what packages or deals a telecommunications company offers, they should go to the stores and ask. After all, scammers have been updating their methods, so the public needs to be careful.
