KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 — Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil reminded Malaysians to always be careful and verify the identity of anyone who contacts them, as he had received a WhatsApp message today from an imposter claiming to be his Cabinet colleague, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri.
Fahmi said many Muslims may be withdrawing from their savings for Hari Raya spending or purchases and urged Malaysians to be careful if they receive any phone calls from individuals claiming to be their friend, saying: “Check first”.
“This morning, I received a WhatsApp from an individual who introduced themselves as Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri. The photo in the WhatsApp (profile) is Datuk Seri Nancy’s photo, but when the message was sent to me, the individual used the word ‘Assalamualaikum’,” he said.
Tipped off by the way the individual claiming to be Nancy greeted him, Fahmi said he contacted the women, family and community development minister this morning.
“And she quickly called me. ‘YB Fahmi, that is not my number, the one that you got, that is not me’,” he said.
Citing this anecdote where an imposter had used an unknown number to contact him, Fahmi urged Malaysians to make sure to verify identities of those who contact them, in order to avoid getting scammed.
“Let us verify first, whether the person who called us or contacted us on any platform, are they the persons who are actually of that identity. If unsure, don’t share. If don’t know them, don’t continue the conversation.”
He urged Malaysians who fall victim to scammers to quickly contact the government’s National Scam Response Centre’s 997 hotline, with the hopes of recovering the funds lost to scams.
“If there are anyone among us who became victims, please immediately call the National Scam Response Centre’s 997. Because if we call 997 within a few hours after the scam happened, after the transaction where we lost money, God willing, Bank Negara Malaysia can work with banks to stop that money from being channelled out,” he said.
