KUALA LUMPUR, May 9 ― The Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) opened 49 investigation papers (IPs) regarding cases of individuals impersonating National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) officers, resulting in losses amounting to RM6.79 million, between January and April this year.

Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said the call centre, established last year, was detected to have been manipulated by a fraud syndicate, impersonating NSRC officers to deceive victims.

"The purported 'NSRC officer' will contact the victims to inform them that he will cancel the victims’ phone number, following complaints that it has been used in fraudulent activities.

"The call will then be connected to another individual posing as a police officer, and the victim will be instructed to follow all the instructions given until the victim transfers money to the designated bank account, and subsequently suffers a loss,” he said, in a statement today.

He also reminded the public not to be easily duped if they receive a call from the NSRC, because the call centre is a one-way communication, which only receives calls from the public and never makes calls to any individual.

"Therefore, any call purporting to be from the NSRC is a scam, and to optimise efforts to eradicate and prevent online fraud crimes, PDRM urges the victims involved to contact the NSRC at 997 to report the incident immediately,” he said.

NSRC is a local response centre, which consolidates resources and expertise from the National Anti-Financial Crime Centre (NFCC), the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM), Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), banking institutions and telecommunications services companies, to receive reports from cyber fraud victims. ― Bernama