Bok: Beware of easy work and high income offers

PETALING JAYA: With the rising costs of living, more people are on the lookout for opportunities to earn some extra income.

However, Kuala Lumpur Crime Prevention Practitioners Association chairman Bok Siew Mun (pic) cautioned the public to be on the guard against scammers who would resort to a variety of tactics to lure jobseekers.

“With people either losing or quitting their jobs, there are more jobseekers who may fall victim to numerous scams.

These so-called job offers promise unbelievably generous earnings or commissions for seemingly easy work that is too tempting to not even try.

More than ever before, these ‘lucrative’ offers are being sent out through text messages and social media apps to lure potential victims into signing up or investing their money, resulting in huge losses,” he said.

Bok said following the Covid-19 pandemic, Malaysia recorded a steady increase in cheating cases in the past three years.

He said these syndicates would try to obtain personal and financial information of potential victims by work-from-home job offers.

“Their aim is to deceive job seekers into giving money, investing or divulging personal information. If you receive a job offer that appears suspicious, cross check with the police and other authorities.

It’s best to sign up for jobs through official company websites, not a link sent to you or posted on networking and social media sites,” he said, adding that the public should not respond or click on these links sent by unknown people or organisations.

Bok also urged victims of scammers to lodge police reports so that appropriate action could be taken.

According to reports, 71,833 scam cases were reported from 2020 until May last year involving more than RM5.2bil in losses while up to February this year, there were 572 reports involving Malaysians who fell victims to job scam syndicates abroad.

Selangor police chief Comm Datuk Hussein Omar Khan said there was an 82.3% increase in cheating cases involving part-time job offers from January to July this year, with RM16.46mil in losses.

The syndicates’ modus operandi involved victims receiving a short message via Telegram or WhatsApp with part-time job offers from unknown phone numbers.

Recent cases included a university student in Sibu who lost RM328,454 in an online job scam that promised her a 5% commission by ordering goods over an app while an events manager in Kuching reportedly lost RM1.2mil in a part-time job to sell products online for a high commission.

Last week, police crippled a part-time job scam syndicate with the arrest of five suspects, including a woman. Sarawak deputy commissioner Datuk Mancha Ata said the syndicate operated as a call centre offering non-existent part-time jobs with an unreasonably lucrative commission.