KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 — The police have warned the public to be cautious of calls requesting money transfers for parcel release, emphasising that courier companies do not ask customers for such payments.

Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said courier companies must file a police report if prohibited items are found in a parcel.

He said that requesting money transfers via phone calls is a common tactic in parcel scams.

"If a parcel contains prohibited items, the courier company must file a report rather than call the customer to issue a warning and then involve police officers to ask for payment. It does not work like that.

"Should it be true that we are transporting prohibited items, we would be regarded as suspects, and suspects would not be notified in such a manner,” he told reporters after the launch of a parcel scam awareness campaign here yesterday.

Meanwhile, Ramli said losses exceeding RM505,440,000 from 9,422 phone scam cases were recorded nationwide between 2021 and July 2024.

He said that, of this amount, over RM30 million in losses from 535 cases of impersonating Pos Laju staff were recorded between 2022 and July 2024

"This figure clearly indicates that phone scams need to be taken seriously and people must use technology to protect themselves in the ever-evolving cyber environment,” he said.

Earlier, Ramli witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Pos Malaysia and Whoscall, a leading anti-fraud application created by Gogolook as part of the #ScamFreeMalaysia initiative.

Under this proactive partnership, Pos Malaysia will share all operational numbers with Whoscall, including postman numbers, which will be identified as "verified numbers”.

This initiative will increase Whoscall users’ confidence in receiving calls and SMS from Pos Malaysia and will help protect Malaysians from the increasing threat of parcel scams.

In support of the anti-phone scam campaign, Whoscall has announced a free 60-day trial for the public. To claim the offer, visit https://bit.ly/POSAntiScam and enter the promotional code PosAntiScam. — Bernama