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Joe Biden Caught Receiving Laundered Chinese Money?!

Was Joe Biden just caught receiving almost a quarter million dollars worth of laundered Chinese money?!

Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!

Claim : Joe Biden Caught Receiving Laundered Chinese Money!

People are sharing videos, articles, etc. that claim or suggest that US President Joe Biden just got caught receiving almost a quarter million dollars worth of laundered Chinese money!

House Oversight Committee : Comer Reveals How Joe Biden Received Laundered China Money

House Oversight Committee : Comer Releases Evidence of Direct Payment to Joe Biden

Russia Today : Biden took $40,000 in ‘laundered Chinese money’ – House Oversight chair

The People’s Voice : Joe Biden Received $40,000 In ‘Laundered Chinese Money’

Still No Evidence Joe Biden Received Chinese Money!

This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS created / propagated by Republicans (and useful idiots) of the MAGA persuasion, as well as pro-Russia supporters (vatniks), and here are the reasons why…

Fact #1 : Joe Biden Has Not Been Referred For Impeachment

The Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, James Comer – a Republican from Kentucky, has publicly claimed TWICE that he has evidence of Joe Biden receiving Chinese money.

Yet, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability has not yet referred President Joe Biden for impeachment proceedings, or call for a Special Council to prosecute him. What are they waiting for?

Fact #2 : There Was No Evidence Of Corruption

On both occasions, Comer only provided a scan copy of a personal cheque issued to Joe Biden by his brother, James Biden and James’ wife, Sara Biden, as “evidence” of corruption.

October 20, 2023 Press Release

House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) today announced the committee obtained bank records revealing a $200,000 direct payment from James and Sara Biden to Joe Biden in the form of a personal check.

November 1, 2023 Press Release

House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) today released a video and bank records memorandum revealing how Joe Biden received $40,000 in laundered China money from the account of his brother, James Biden, and his sister-in-law, Sara Biden, in the form of a personal check.

Neither personal cheques from his brother or his brother’s wife are actual evidence that President Joe Biden received “laundered Chinese money”. They are only evidence that Joe Biden received money from his brother, and his brother’s wife.

If that is the bar for evidence of corruption and/or receiving “laundered Chinese money”, then many of us who received money from our relatives are guilty of corruption and/or receiving laundered foreign money. That sounds stupid? Yes, that’s exactly how stupid the so-called “evidence” against Joe Biden really looks.

Fact #3 : Cheques Were For Personal Loan Repayment

The two cheques clearly stated that they were to pay Joe Biden for a (personal) loan. You know – the kind family members often give out to their brothers or sisters who are in financial trouble. The words “Loan repayment” was even stated clearly in the front of the two cheques.

I should point out that Comer was not able to prove that these were not loan repayment cheques. He only said he would view the $200,000 cheque as “troubling” even if it was for a loan repayment, because it came on the same day James Biden received $200,000 from a struggling health company he did business with.

Wow! Imagine that – it was “troubling” for Comer to see someone receive repayment for a personal loan he made out to his own brother, just because it appears that his brother received the money from a company he did business with.

Fact #4 : Joe Biden Loaned His Brother Money

James Comer also claimed that he did not “believe” that Joe Biden actually loaned his brother money.

When Democratic members of his committee and a lawyer for James Biden said that the committee has documents to prove that Joe Biden did indeed loan $200,000 to James Biden, Comer declared that the Democrats were “lying”, and said that “at the end of the day, there’s no document that shows there was a loan”.

CNN fact checker Daniel Dale revealed on 31 October 2023, that they were able to obtain the same banking records that Comer’s committee received, and they showed that President Joe Biden loaned his brother $200,000 less than two months prior to the James Biden “loan repayment” cheque for the same amount.

The banking records that both CNN and Comer’s committee had access to showed that Joe Biden sent a $200,000 wire transfer to James Biden on January 12, 2018. James Biden then issued the $200,000 loan repayment cheque on March 1, 2018.

The top Democrat on Comer’s committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin, even wrote to rebuke Comer, pointing out that there is “clear evidence that this transaction was a short-term, interest-free loan between brothers“.

[T]he bank records provided to the Committee clearly show that President Biden had $200,000 wired to his brother on January 12, 2018.

Despite this clear evidence that James Biden received a loan from his brother on January 12, 2018, and paid him back 48 days later with a check for the same amount marked ‘loan repayment,’ you continue to misrepresent the facts.”

In short – Comer’s committee appears to have documents showing that there was a loan from Joe Biden to James Biden, so the loan repayment was legitimate, and not actual evidence of corruption or money laundering.

Fact #5 : Joe Biden Was A Private Citizen At That Time

This may seem like a small point, but it is an important one to make. These personal loans and loan repayments between Joe Biden and his brother all occurred in 2017-2018.

At that time, Joe Biden was not President. Heck, he was not even a Presidential candidate – he did not announce his 2020 Presidential bid until April 25, 2019.

In other words – there is simply no question of Joe Biden abusing the power of his office (he had none at that time) to enrich himself with foreign money.

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He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Malaysia Faces US Sanctions Over Hamas Support?!

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Is Malaysia facing US sanctions after the US House of Representative passed a bill to sanction Hamas supporters?!

Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!

Claim : Malaysia Faces US Sanctions Over Hamas Support!

People are sharing this warning on WhatsApp, which claims that Malaysia is facing US sanctions after the US House of Representative passed a bill to sanction Hamas supporters!

Malaysia already in RM1.5 trillion in debt and now will be sanctioned by US. Ringgit surely touch RM5 to US dollar and expect country to be affected economically resulting in more hardship for all Malaysians

The US House of Representatives approved a bill to sanction foreign supporters of supporters of the Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad 4terrorist movements on Wednesday night.

Ready to brace another impact on our economy! 😭

To support the claim, the viral WhatsApp warning includes a link to an MSN article, which has the title – US House approves bill to sanction Hamas supporters

No Evidence Malaysia Faces US Sanctions Over Hamas Support!

This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS created / propagated on WhatsApp, and here are the reasons why…

Fact #1 : US House Bill Was Introduced In January 2023

First, I should point out that the US house bill in question – H.R. 340 : Hamas and Other Palestinian Terrorist Groups International Financing Prevention Act (PDF), was actually introduced on January 12, 2023 (history).

Also known as the “Hamas International Financing Prevention Act“, H.R. 340 was introduced almost 9 months before the terrible October 7 attack.

In short – this bill had nothing to do with the October 7 attack of Israel by Hamas, but its passage was accelerated by the attack.

Fact #2 : Bill Only Passed US House Of Representatives

Next, I should point out that the bill is not yet law – it only passed in the US House of Representatives, with a 363-46 vote.

The bill now heads to the US Senate for its consideration. It is uncertain whether this bill would actually pass in the US Senate in its current form.

Even if it passes the US Senate, it must be signed into law by President Joe Biden, who has the power to veto it. GovTrack rates it as having only 37% chance in being enacted.

Until it is signed into law – no country or entity faces US sanctions through this bill.

Fact #3 : MSN Article Did Not State Malaysia Faces US Sanctions

The MSN article – which is actually an article by The Jerusalem Post, was shared in the viral warning as “evidence” that Malaysia faces US sanctions over it support of Hamas.

However, anyone who spends just a few minutes to read the article would quickly realise that Malaysia was never mentioned at all. In fact, the article did not mention that any country is at risk of being sanctioned by the US for supporting Hamas.

Fact #4 : Sanctions Are Only Imposed On Foreign Persons

The bill – in its current form – only requires the US President to impose sanctions on any “foreign person” that:

a) “assists in sponsoring”, or providing “significant financial, material, or technology support” or “goods and other services” to enable acts of terrorism; or

b) engages, directly or indirectly, in a significant transaction with a senior member of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the Lion’s Den, or their affiliates / successors.

However, HR340 leaves it to the President to determine which “foreign person” actually qualifies to be sanctioned. On top of that, the President can issue a waiver on a case-by-case basis.

Fact #5 : Only Limited Measures Are Imposed On Foreign States

The bill – in its current form – does not impose any sanctions on foreign states. It only imposes limited “measures” on foreign states that:

a) provides “significant material or financial support” for acts of terrorism; or

b) engages, directly or indirectly, in a significant transaction that contributes to the terrorist activities of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the Lion’s Den, or their affiliates / successors.

Again, HR340 leaves it to the President to determine which “foreign state” actually qualifies to be targeted, and the President can issue a waiver on a case-by-case basis.

Even if a foreign state is identified by the US President as materially supporting terroristic activities by Hamas, HR340 only requires:

the President to suspend US assistance to that foreign state for at least 1 year,
the Treasury Secretary to oppose and vote against any loan, financial assistance, or technical assistance by any international financial institution to that foreign state for a period of 1 year
the President to prohibit the export of American weapons to that foreign state

Again – the bill does not technically impose sanctions on foreign states, only limited measures or penalties.

Fact #6 : HR340 Is Unlikely To Impact Malaysia At All

Even if it passes the US Senate in its current form, and is signed into law by President Joe Biden, HR340 – the Hamas International Financing Prevention Act is unlikely to have any impact on Malaysia.

For one thing – the bill only targets foreign states that provide “significant material or financial support for acts of international terrorism”.

And even if Malaysia is somehow identified as such a country, the limited measures imposed by HR340 will have minimal impact, if at all.

According to the US Department of State, the US government only invests $1 million annually to train Malaysian military service members as part of its International Military Education and Training. The US also provided $220 million in security assistance for the FY2018-2022 – about $44 million per year.

Assuming everything remained the same, Malaysia would only stand to lose a total of $45 million per year in US assistance. That’s a drop in the bucket – 0.05% of Malaysia’s 2023 budget of about $84 billion.

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Sam Bankman-Fried Convicted : Guilty Of FTX Fraud!

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Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) has been found guilty and convicted on all counts of defrauding customers of his crypto-exchange, FTX!

Sam Bankman-Fried Convicted : Guilty Of FTX Fraud!

Sam Bankman-Fried, who is also known simply as SBF, has been found guilty on all counts of defrauding the customers of his crypto-exchange, FTX, on Thursday, 2 November 2023.

The former crypto billionaire stood and faced the jury that delivered its verdict after just four hours of deliberations. He was found guilt on all seven counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to launder money, and now faces decades in prison at a separate sentencing hearing set for 28 March 2024.

The jury verdict brought an end to nearly a month of court proceedings, which saw his closest friends and partners turn witness against the former crypto king, and one of cryptocurrency’s most public faces.

Sam Bankman-Fried perpetrated one of the biggest financial frauds in American history – a multibillion-dollar scheme designed to make him the King of Crypto. This case has always been about lying, cheating, and stealing, and we have no patience for it.

– Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams

SBF maintained his innocence right to the end, maintaining that while he made mistakes, he acted in good faith. After his conviction, his lawyer issued this statement:

We respect the jury’s decision. But we are very disappointed with the result. Mr Bankman-Fried maintains his innocence and will continue to vigorously fight the charges against him

– Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyer, Mark Cohen

It is currently unknown if SBF plans to appeal the verdict. In any case, this won’t be the last we see of him, as Bankman-Fried is also set to go on trial on a second set of charges brought by prosecutors earlier this year, for alleged foreign bribery and bank fraud conspiracies.

Sam Bankman-Fried Conviction : Warning To Other Fraudsters

After the jury convicted SBF, Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams warned other fraudsters to take note of his fate.

When I became US attorney, I promised we would be relentless in rooting out corruption in our financial markets. This is what relentless looks like. This case moved at lightning speed – that was not a coincidence, that was a choice.

This case is also a warning to every fraudster who thinks they’re untouchable, that their crimes are too complex for us to catch, that they are too powerful to prosecute, or that they are clever enough to talk their way out of it if caught.

Those folks should think again and cut it out. And if they don’t, I promise we’ll have enough handcuffs for all of them.

Sam Bankman-Fried Conviction : All But Guaranteed

Sam Bankman-Fried’s conviction was all but guaranteed after three of his former close friends and colleagues, including former on-off girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against him in hopes of reducing their own sentences. They are to be sentenced at a later date.

They helped convict SBF by presenting evidence that the crypto-trading firm Alameda Research received deposits on behalf of FTX customers from the early days of the exchange, when traditional banks were unwilling to let it open an account.

Bankman-Fried was accused of swindling FTX customers out of some $10bn. Prosecutors said that his fraud extended from 2019 to November 2022, when FTX collapsed under the weight of a liquidity crisis, caused by the lending of customer funds to Alameda Research, without FTX customer’s knowledge or approval.

Instead of safeguarding FTX customer funds, SBF used the money to repay Alameda lenders, buy property and make investments, as well as political donations. When FTX went bankrupt in November 2022, Alameda owed it US$8 billion.

He took the money. He knew it was wrong. He did it anyway, because he thought he was smarter and better and that he could figure his way out of it.

– Assistant US Attorney Nicolas Roos

Before FTX’s collapse of his companies, Sam Bankman-Fried was known for appearing frequently in Washington and in the media to promote cryptocurrency. Despite a market downturn, the rapid growth of FTX earned him the moniker – king of crypto, which now appears to be a mirage.

Caroline Ellison testified that Sam Bankman-Fried directed her to shuttle customer funds into Alameda after the spring 2022 crypto downturn. Alameda was saddled with billions of dollars in open-term loans, and lenders started demanding their money back that summer. Alameda couldn’t repay the loans, and Bankman-Fried blamed Ellison for not hedging the fund’s money earlier that year.

Wang similarly implicated his former friend, naming “Sam Bankman-Fried, Nishad Singh and Caroline Ellison”, when the prosecution asked, “Who are the main people you committed these crimes with?”

Wang also told jurors that Sam Bankman-Fried wasn’t shocked by FTX’s massive debt. After telling him about the debt, SBF said “that sounds correct” with “a neutral demeanor”.

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Bank Letter QR Code Scam : What You Need To Know!

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Are scammers sending bank letters with a QR code that can steal your money?!

Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!

Claim : Bank Letter With QR Code Is A Scam!

People are sharing a photo of a letter from a bank, claiming that the QR code in the letter can steal your money if you scan it with your phone!

Circulating In WhatsApp : If you get a letter from the bank like this and ask to update the book using the QR CODE provided in the letter that was sent, don’t ever scan it, you will lose all your daily savings or old age savings, this is another scammer’s work and method take your money, please spread it to everyone so that siblings, relatives, neighbors & family members are not affected by this kind of scam…

Peng Seong, the one : ⛔️ Another Scam ‼️

Do NOT scan the QR code per the letter even with bank’s letterhead without verifying with the bank

Truth : Bank Letter With QR Code Is Not A Scam!

This is likely another example of FAKE NEWS circulating on WhatsApp and social media platforms, and here are reasons why…

Fact #1 : This Is Old Fake News

First, let me just point out that this photo is not new. It first went viral, with a voice message in August 2022, and has subsequently gone viral on and off over the last year or so.

Fact #2 : CIMB Letter Was Genuine

The letter, which was sent by CIMB, is genuine. CIMB even posted a reply to one viral tweet, that the letter was genuine:

FYI, this [letter] is genuinely from our bank. You can refer to the link below for more information: [link no longer available]

[U]ntuk makluman, ia adalah sah dari pihak kami. Anda boleh rujuk pautan di bawah bagi maklumat lanjut: [link no longer available]

Fact #3 : CIMB Letter Was Only Sent To Business Customers

The letter was not meant for consumers, and was only sent to CIMB business customers, to request that they update their company/organisation’s information.

Re: Update on your records to improve your banking experience

We refer to the above mattes and our letter dated 27/06/2022.

We note that you have vet to update your company/organisations information with us.

As part of the Bank’s ongoing process to know our customers better and provide a seamless banking experience, we would like to remind you to return the completed Customer Information Update form to us

This letter appears to be CIMB’s efforts to comply with KYC (Know Your Customer) requirements set out by regulators like Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).

Fact #4 : QR Code Leads To CIMB Website

QR codes is a type of barcode, which allows people and companies to share / deliver information, that can include links. QR codes can lead you to malicious websites, but they cannot deliver malware, or hack your computer or smartphone.

The QR code in the CIMB bank letter isn’t malicious. It actually codes for a link to the CIMB website. You can verify it by simply scanning the QR code in that “CIMB scam letter”. You will see that it only leads to http://www.cimb.com.my/bizupdate [which no longer exists]

Ultimately, this viral warning was likely created by well-meaning but clueless Internet “experts” who are apparently not tech-savvy enough to even verify the QR code by simply scanning it!

Fact #5 : Form Was To Be Emailed / Delivered

The CIMB letter asked its business customers to download and fill in a form. However, that form was not to be submitted online.

Rather, the letter specifically asked its business customers to email the completed form to a legitimate CIMB email address, or to physically mail or courier it to the bank itself.

Scan the QR Code below to download the form. Once you have completed the form, please submit by email to cimb_updates@cimb.com or mail/courier to the address below within 21 days from the date of this letter, failing which, the Bank reserves the right to suspend or close the account in accordance with the account terms and conditions.

In a real scam, you will be asked to taken to a fake CIMB bank website, and asked to logged into your bank account. That’s how the scammer gets hold of your bank login credentials.

However, even that scam won’t work without access to your TAC (Transaction Authorisation Code), which is sent to your phone by SMS, or authenticated through the bank’s mobile app.

For certain, scammers cannot log into your bank account by simply gaining your company’s information through a form, unless you actually include your company’s bank account login details!

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Maxis Rushes Out Broadband Deals – Too Little, Too Late!

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Maxis just rushed out its own broadband deals, and is offering a free speed upgrade for existing customers! Find out why it’s really too little, too late.

New Maxis Home Broadband Deals In October 2023!

In early October 2023, Unifi announced that all broadband customers will receive a free upgrade of their Internet speeds – up to 3X their current speeds!

Weeks later – on 27 October 2023, Maxis belatedly announces new 1 Gbps and 2 Gbps broadband packages, as well as its own broadband deals to fight back. Unfortunately, they are pretty much too little, too late.

On top of introducing the new 1 Gbps and 2 Gbps (overkill) packages, Maxis announced RM10 discounts for their cheaper broadband packages.

Broadband Speed	Old Price	New Price	Promo Price *
2 Gbps (New)	NA	RM 319	NA
1 Gbps (New)	NA	RM 249	Free Max Wifi
500 Mbps	RM 159	RM 159	RM 149
300 Mbps	RM 149	RM 139	RM 129
100 Mbps	RM 129	RM 99	RM 89

* Only for new subscribers, and applicable to the first 24 months.

However, the pitiful RM10 discount is limited to new subscribers, and even then, only for the first 24 months! After that, the price goes back to the “New Price” list above.

This is quite unlike Digi or Unifi, whose prices are not limited to the first 24 months:

Broadband Speed	Maxis	Unifi *	Digi
2 Gbps	RM 319	RM 289	NA
1 Gbps	RM 249	RM 159	RM 269
500 Mbps	RM 149 x 24 Then RM 159	RM 139	RM 149
300 Mbps	RM 129 x 24 Then RM 139	RM 129	Free 6 months Then RM 129
100 Mbps	RM 89 x 24 Then RM 99	RM 89	RM 89

* After free speed upgrade

If you are an existing customer, Maxis has announced a free speed upgrade for customers on 100 Mbps or faster packages. However, details on this free upgrade – how much faster, and when they kick in – are only coming in November 2023.

New Maxis Business Broadband Deals In October 2023!

Maxis also announced a new 1 Gbps business broadband package, but curiously did not offer a 2 Gbps package for business users. You would think that a business would need a 2 Gbps package more than home users, right?

In any case, Maxis is offering slightly better discounts on its business broadband packages. However, you must be a new subscriber, and you must register by 30 November 2023!

If you are an existing customer – too bad, so sad. Unlike Home Fibre customers, Maxis did not announce any free speed upgrade for their Business Broadband customers. It appears that the only way to get an upgrade and save money is probably to migrate to a different provider…

Broadband Speed	Old Price	New Price	Promo Price *
1 Gbps (New)	RM 189 (early bird)	RM 299	NA
500 Mbps	RM 269	RM 219	RM 199
300 Mbps	RM 149	RM 179	RM 139
100 Mbps	RM 139	RM 119	RM 99

* Only for new subscribers who register by 30 November 2023

That said – a quick check on their April prices show that Maxis was actually offering cheaper prices back then!

The 1 Gbps package was only RM189 – RM110 less than their “new price”, while the 300 Mbps package was only RM149 – RM30 less than their new price, and just RM10 more than their October-November 2023 promo price.

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Nurse Lost RM380K After Pressing Instagram ‘Like’ Button?!

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Did a Malaysian nurse lose RM380,000 after pressing the Instagram Like button?!

Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!

Claim : Nurse Lost RM380K After Pressing Instagram Like Button!

People are sharing an article which claims that a Malaysian nurse lost RM380,000 after pressing the Like button in Instagram for RM5 commissions! Here is an excerpt from the article:

M’sian Nurse Loses RM380K After Pressing Instagram ‘Like’ Button For RM5 Commission

Too late to unlike

Recently, a nurse supervisor fell victim to an online part-time job scam and lost a staggering RM387,035 after she was tricked into thinking she could enjoy high earnings from it.

M’sian nurse loses RM380K after pressing Instagram ‘like’ button

According to a statement by Pahang police chief Datuk Seri Yahaya Othman, he said the 46-year-old victim received a message through WhatsApp offering her a part-time job on September 11.

The scammer then told her that she had to do was to simply press the ‘like’ button on Instagram and earn RM5 in commission for each task she completed.

Completely beguiled, the victim proceeded to accomplish five tasks and received a commission totaling RM25.

“She was then presented with a prepaid assignment which involved making a payment beforehand and was promised of greater profits.

“After making 36 transactions to 21 bank accounts amounting to RM387,035 across 13 days starting from Sept 11, the victim finally realised she had been deceived,” he said.

Show less

Nurse Did Not Lose RM380K After Pressing Instagram Like Button!

First of all, I would like to applaud the website for writing about job scams, but that’s really a misleading title.

Unfortunately, many people don’t read beyond the headlines. People are even asking if they will get “hacked” like the nurse if they like Instagram posts!

The truth is – the Malaysian nurse did not lose RM380,000 because she pressed on the Like button in Instagram. In fact, Instagram and its Like button have nothing to do with the actual scam!

Social Media Jobs Are An Easy Lure

As I have earlier written on how fake job syndicates operate, the “job” and “platform” are not important. These scammers generally offer social media jobs, because that’s what most people already use, so it’s easy to hook victims.

These syndicates will offer quick and easy tasks to do on social media, for example – liking Instagram photos and Facebook posts. Other (non-social media) tasks include liking YouTube videos and/or subscribing to YouTube channels, or even making comments on businesses in Google Maps.

Whether the job is on Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Google Maps, etc. is irrelevant. The first few “jobs” you are given are the bait. You will be paid for those simple tasks, like RM5 for liking an Instagram post, or RM10 for subscribing to a YouTube channel. Such an easy way to make money!

Paying For Jobs Is The Scam!

After you get the first payment, you will be asked to participate in a “prepaid job”. All you have to do is pay a “deposit” for the opportunity to make a lot of money in high-paying “jobs”.

At this point, you may feel that this is a genuine side job opportunity. After all, they paid you for the earlier jobs, didn’t they? Real scammers wouldn’t pay their victims, right? WRONG!

Once you make that first deposit, you are “hooked”. The scammers will not let you withdraw the money, but insist that you must continue with the next “prepaid job”, which would require another deposit. Then, you will be asked to pay again to participate in another “prepaid task”, and so on.

On paper, you appear to be earning a lot of money, but you won’t be able to withdraw any of that money. By the time you realise it’s a scam, you would have lost a LOT of money. That is the scam, not pressing on the Instagram Like button.

Trying To Recover The Money Is The Scam!

In the nurse’s case, she fell for their trap to participate in the “prepaid assignment”. She ended up making 36 transactions worth RM387,000 to 21 different bank accounts over 13 days! She not only emptied her savings, she even loaned money from her friends and family members!

Why would any victim do that? Simple – the more money you invest in this fake job offer, the more desperate you will be to recover the money you “invested” and “earned”. To quit would mean losing everything, so you will feel that you have “no choice” but to continue.

To help you make that decision to “stick with the programme”, the syndicate have fake users in their Telegram group continuously posting bank deposit screenshots, while claiming that they just received their earnings.

The truth is – any money you send to their mule accounts will be quickly transferred to the scammers’ account. You will never see the money again.

As one student shared, he lost over RM22,000 in just two days, because he was so engrossed in trying to get back the money he “invested” earlier:

There’s one trick that this scammer is using. He let me start with a small investment, then proceed with stages.

They force me to continue because I want to rescue the money that I put in in the previous task. So it keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Just like that, two days, RM22300, gone.

Again, I’m glad to see more publicity about fake job scams. But it is important that YOU understand that the scam does not involve the pressing of the Like button in Instagram, or Facebook, or YouTube, or any other online platform.

This is ultimately just another case of a fake job scam. In this nurse’s case, the scammers used the simple job of liking Instagram posts as the lure, but it will be different for other victims. These scammers will use any convenient platform to give you simple jobs to trick you into falling for their scam.

Just remember – there is no such thing as easy social media jobs. Even unscrupulous social media promoters do not need to pay anyone to like a post, or follow someone. They simply use bots (automated software)!

Don’t fall for such fake job scams. No matter how enticing the offer is – NEVER pay for any job.

Please SHARE this article out, and WARN your family and friends!

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He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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MPH Free Books : Don’t Fall For This Scam!

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Is MPH giving away free books on financial planning and stocks?! Find out what’s going on, and warn your family and friends!

Updated @ 2023-09-26 : Added a new version of this scam
Updated @ 2023-08-14 : Added new versions of this scam
Originally posted @ 2023-05-20

Watch Out For MPH Free Books Scam!

Scammers are running Facebook advertisements that claim MPH is giving away free books because it has either achieved 500,000 fans, or is shutting down its bookstores!

🎉To celebrate MPH Books breaking 500,000 fans in Malaysia, thank you for your support
👋MPH Books specially prepares best-selling books on financial planning and stocks to give to everyone for free. I hope everyone has to help!
limited quantity available. (Free shipping)

📢📢 Sorry everyone, I have to say goodbye to everyone
Due to the continuous decline in store performance, the store cannot continue to operate normally
👋👋So the head office decided to close the store and give away the remaining financial and stock books in the store to everyone for free. I hope everyone has to help!
📣📣Finally, thank you again for your long-term support and trust. The book donation activity is the only feedback activity we can do at present!
limited quantity available. (free shipping available)

🎉To celebrate the 99 Supermarket Malaysian branch exceeding 1,000, thank you for your support
❤️99 Supermarket specially prepares best-selling books on stocks and gives them to everyone for free
🔥The number of stock books is limited, while supplies last

👋👋对不起真的很遗憾，这次真的要和大家说再见了！
由于店内销量持续下滑，书店无法继续经营了！
所以公司决定关闭本店，并将店内剩余的金融股票书籍免费赠送给大家，希望对大家有帮助！
数量有限，送完为止。（可免费邮寄）

👋👋Sorry really sorry, this time I really want to say goodbye to everyone!
The bookstore can’t continue to operate as sales in the store continue to decline!
So the company decided to close the store and give away the remaining financial stock books in the store for free, hope it will help everyone!
Limited quantity until delivery lasts. (Free shipping available)

Show less

MPH Free Books Scam : What You Need To Know!

This MPH free book scam is being promoted heavily on Facebook in May 2023, so please alert your family and friend!

Fact #1 : MPH Did Not Close Bookstores In 2023

MPH closed many of its physical stores since June 2020, as it shifted during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns to an online store with a “digitally-driven omnichannel business model”.

MPH has not announced closing down any further bookstores in 2023.

Fact #2 : MPH Reported These Pages / Ads As Fake

MPH is aware of these fake advertisements being run by scam Facebook pages, posting this scam alert on May 9, 2023:

⚠️𝐅𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐒 𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐓!⁣⚠️⁣⁣

Hey readers, we noticed that irresponsible parties have been impersonating the MPH brand by creating fake pages and ads to confuse and lure our customers to share their data.⁣⁣⁣

Please note that MPH is not associated in any way with these pages and we DO NOT run any free book giveaways nor do we request customers to PM us your personal details.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our followers and customers for updating us about these pages. We sincerely thank YOU for your continuous support!⁣

Stay vigilant & protect yourself from scams!⁣⁣

#fakepagesalert #scammeralert

Fact #3 : MPH Is A Business, Not A Charity

Please do NOT be naive. MPH is a business, not a charity. Just because it hits 500,000 fans in Malaysia, it’s not going to give away its books.

Heck, why should it give away books even if it’s closing down its bookstores? It would be more logical for MPH to offer discounts to clear its books, so it won’t lose so much money.

In fact, MPH itself pointed out in its scam warning – “we DO NOT run any free book giveaways“. Why should they? They are a corporation whose business is not make money, not a charity to give you free books!

Fact #4 : Giveaways Were Not Posted In Official Website / FB Page

If MPH was really giving away free books, it would have posted the offer on:

its official website (mphonline.com), or
its official Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/mphclick/)

These scams are being run off fake Facebook pages that are brand new, and have nothing to do with the real MPH:

MPH Group Publishing
MPH Book
MPH English Bookstore

Fact #5 : MPH Does Not Use WhatsApp To Communicate

MPH offers a multitude of contact options by email or telephone number. What it does not have is a WhatsApp account. So when scammers message you to collect your “free books” by messaging a WhatsApp number, be warned!

Please add librarian Gek Tiang’s Whatsapp message ”Pm“ to get free stock books (free shipping) Whatsapp: https://xxxx.xx/601170131707

Fact #6 : Scammers Will Try To Scare You

Scammers will try to scare you into contacting them, by telling you that stock is running out. Just ignore them!

There are only 3 free places left, which have been reserved for you, please add and leave a message as soon as possible Whatsapp : https://xxxx.xx/601170131707

There are many friends who have claimed it, please tell us whether you have added it successfully! If you do not add or reply, it means that you will give up the quota by default and automatically transfer it to the next friend. Thank you for your understanding!

Fact #7 : One Victim Lost RM480K To Investment Scam!

In November 2022, a 60 year-old housewife from Port Dickson fell for a similar “free book” scam, and lost almost RM480,000.

After being offered the free book on Facebook, she was asked to join a WhatsApp group called Family Discussion, where she was asked to convinced to “invest”.

The WhatsApp group administrator instructed her to download an application called Forza, and open a savings account. She was then asked to deposit money into certain bank accounts, and upload the slips using that Forza app as proof.

The lady withdrew her savings and borrowed from her children and friends to invest RM476,100. However, when she wanted to withdraw the interest paid by the company, her account was blocked. The group administrator told her that she would need to deposit an additional RM427,200 to withdraw the interest.

That was when the lady realised she had been scammed, and lodged a police report. By then, it was too late – she had already lost every sen she “invested”.

Please help us FIGHT SCAMMERS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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How To Get Special Deals On Maxis Mobile + Broadband!

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If you want the very best mobile + broadband deals from Maxis, there is only one way – you must first quit Maxis! Here is how it worked for me…

Don’t Bother Asking For Special Deals On Maxis Mobile / Broadband!

I have been a loyal Maxis customer for many years, and every time my contract comes up for renewal, I will ask for special deals to stay on. The most I will get is a free smartphone to renew my contract for another 2 years.

But finally, I had enough. I was stuck with 0-1 bar of mobile connectivity from March until September 2023, and Maxis wouldn’t even compensate me for the poor reception. So I gritted my teeth and waited out my contract.

Once my contract expired, I quickly decided that I would save over RM1,900 per year migrating to Digi. But out of (misplaced?) loyalty to Maxis, I called their customer care hotline, and even went to a Maxis Center to check if there are any deals for me to stay on.

As usual, Maxis had nothing to offer me as a loyal customer. But there was a surprise for me this year – I will not be receiving a free smartphone to continue my contract, unless I choose to upgrade to the new Maxis 5G plans… with an increase, of course!

So learn from my experience – don’t bother asking Maxis for any special deals to stay on as a loyal customer. To be fair, other telcos likely don’t offer deals to loyal customers to stay on as well. But I have only been a Maxis customer, and can only speak from my own experience.

How To Get Special Deals On Maxis Mobile + Broadband!

I discovered that the only way that Maxis will ever offer me any special deals to stay on, is if I actually quit their service. And even then, Maxis only did it at the very cusp of my migration process.

When Maxis was ready to hand over my five mobile numbers to Digi, a member of their retention department called me and offered these great deals to stay on.

Existing Maxis 4G Package : RM423 Per Month

First, I should point out that my existing Maxis package bundled a RM98 principal line with four supplementary lines, and 100 Mbps fibre broadband. By bundling with broadband, my principal line has unlimited data, albeit only on the 4G network. There is no 5G connectivity.

However, Maxis only allows a single Share 48 supplementary line with 30 GB of data for the RM98 principal line. So I have to pay a ridiculous RM38 for the remaining three supplementary lines, with just 1 GB of data.

The total pre-tax cost was RM399 per month, or RM4,788 per year.

Maxis 4G Plans	4G Data	Cost
Postpaid 98	Unlimited	RM 98
Postpaid Share 48	30 GB	RM 48
Talk and Surf 1	1 GB	RM 38
Talk and Surf 1	1 GB	RM 38
Talk and Surf 1	1 GB	RM 38
100 Mbps Fibre	Unlimited	RM 139
Total Before Tax	–	RM 399

300 Mbps Broadband Offer : RM100 Per Month

First, Maxis agreed to match Digi’s offer of just RM100 per month for 300 Mbps. That’s RM39 (28%) cheaper than my current 100 Mbps plan, and RM49 (33%) off their current 300 Mbps plan.

Over two years, I will save RM1,176! But I was only getting this special offer because I was really quitting Maxis.

Bundled Broadband	Maxis Normal	Maxis Special	Digi
100 Mbps	RM 129	RM 90	RM 90
300 Mbps	RM 149	RM 100	RM 100

Special Maxis 5G Offer #1 : RM245 Per Month

For the five mobile lines, Maxis offered me a RM245 plan, which would give every user 120 GB of 5G data per month.

There is a 2-year contract, but Maxis will throw in five free smartphones – a Vivo Y36 (8 GB + 256 GB) or equivalent per account.

Not only does that give all of us a heck of a lot of mobile data, and a new smartphone per person, it is also RM15 cheaper than my current package!

Maxis 5G Plans	5G Data	Cost
Special Postpaid 49	120 GB	RM 49
Special Postpaid 49	120 GB	RM 49
Special Postpaid 49	120 GB	RM 49
Special Postpaid 49	120 GB	RM 49
Special Postpaid 49	120 GB	RM 49
Total Before Tax	–	RM 245

Special Maxis 5G Offer #2 : RM281 Per Month

Maxis also offered me a more expensive RM281 monthly plan, consisting of a principal line with 300 GB of data, and four supplementary lines with 50 GB of data.

It would come with a more expensive HONOR 90 smartphone with 12 GB RAM and 512 GB storage, with a 2-year contract.

I should point out that the supplementary lines are not only RM10 cheaper, they come with 50X more data, and 5G connectivity!!! Makes you want to tear your hair out, doesn’t it?

Maxis 5G Plans	5G Data	Cost
Special Postpaid 169	300 GB	RM 169
Special Postpaid 28	50 GB	RM 28
Special Postpaid 28	50 GB	RM 28
Special Postpaid 28	50 GB	RM 28
Special Postpaid 28	50 GB	RM 28
Total Before Tax	–	RM 281

Special Maxis 4G Offer : Only RM200 Per Month!

If I prefer to stick with 4G connectivity only, Maxis offered me a 4G-only plan for just RM200 a month, without contract or free smartphone.

Basically, my supplementary lines would now get a ton of data, and I would save RM60 per month on my existing Maxis package!

Maxis 4G Plans	4G Data	Cost
Special Postpaid 48	70 GB	RM 48
Special Postpaid 48	70 GB	RM 48
Special Postpaid 48	70 GB	RM 48
Special Postpaid 28	50 GB	RM 28
Special Postpaid 28	50 GB	RM 28
Total Before Tax	–	RM 200

Why I Declined The Special Deals On Maxis Mobile + Broadband!

While the special deals offered by the Maxis retention department were enticing – free phones! more data! more speed! – Digi still offered a substantially better deal.

My parents, for example, do not need 50 GB of data. They just needed something more reasonable than 1 GB, and I wanted to pay a more reasonable price for their lines.

On top of that, staying with Maxis would not solve my biggest problem – poor connectivity. I have been suffering from poor reception for six months (and counting), and sticking with Maxis for another 2 years was unthinkable.

Maxis may have once been known for having “better coverage” than other telcos. But if they cannot restore proper connectivity after 6 months (and counting), it’s time to move on. I also did not like the fact that they refused to compensate me for the poor connectivity all those months.

But this article is not about dissing Maxis. I wrote this article to share with you the best way to get such special deals from Maxis.

I called them, I even spent time at the Maxis Centre to talk to the staff. There was simply NO special deal or offer for an existing customer. You must literally quit Maxis – sign an agreement to port out to another telco, and be on the verge of switching, before Maxis will ever offer you these special deals.

Even if you want to stick with Maxis, you should still quit and port out to another telco at the end of your contract. This way, you will get access to these special deals. You will only lose out if you stay loyal.

As for me, I bid adieu to Maxis, and started my journey with Digi hours later. It was easy. You should give it a try!

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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US Gov Stole $50 Trillion Of Gold + Oil From Iraq?!

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Did the US government steal $50 trillion worth of gold and oil from Iraq?! Take a look at the viral claims, and find out what the facts really are!

Updated @ 2023-09-19 : Refreshed with updated info
Originally published @ 2022-04-12

Claim : US Gov Stole $50 Trillion Of Gold + Oil From Iraq!

People are sharing photos of US soldiers posing with gold bars, as evidence that the United States sold gold and oil from Iraq worth tens of trillions of dollars!

These photos was revived on the 20th anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and then on the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, as part of the information warfare surrounding the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is also being shared and promoted on pro-CCP and pro-Russia groups on social media, WhatsApp, Telegram, etc.

Here the US thieves in Iraq. Bringing democracy aka stealing a country’s gold. Same thing they want to do in Russia. But Russia is no Iraq or Libya.

The #US ransacked and plundered the whole of #Iraq. Banks, museums, all of their gold reserves. The US is the biggest gang of thiefs in the whole history. They have raped most of the planet in the last 50 years. #Ukraine #UkraineRussianWar #UkraineRussiaWar #Russia #Putin #NATO

🇺🇸 “liberates” gold & oil while 🇷🇺 liberates humans.

#Denaƶification & #Demilitarization of #UkroNaƶiLand

Truth : US Gov Did Not Steal Gold + Oil From Iraq At All!

This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS created and/or propagated to deflect criticism of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and here are the reasons why…

Fact #1 : US Did Not Steal $30 Trillion Of Iraqi Oil

Claims that the US stole $30 trillion worth of oil from Iraq are false. The United States did lose track of 8.7 billion dollars worth of Iraqi funds though.

After the invasion of Iraq concluded, Iraqi oil was sold to help fund the Development Fund of Iraq (DFI). Other sources of funds include surplus funds (about USD 10 billion) from the UN Oil-For-Food Program, and the sale of seized Iraqi assets.

The United States did not truck away Iraqi oil, as claimed. In July 2010, the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) discovered that the US Department of Defense could not account properly for USD 8.7 billion of DFI funds.

This led the Iraqi Parliament to request the United Nation’s help in demanding that the US return $17 billion of “oil money” that it said was stolen from the Iraqi people :

All the indications are that the institutions of the United States of America committed financial corruption by stealing the money of the Iraqi people, which was allocated to develop Iraq, (and) that it was about $17 billion.

… Our committee decided to send this issue to you … to look into it and restore the stolen money.

Stealing $30 trillion worth of oil would require 1.7 billion oil trucks, or 46,000 of these trucks every day for 100 years!

Fact #2 : US Spent $60 Billion To Reconstruct Iraq

There is no evidence that the unaccounted money was repatriated to the United States, or officially taken by the United States.

Even assuming that it was not poor accounting and all of the $8.7 billion was truly stolen, that is a far cry (0.029%) from the $30 trillion that was “allegedly” stolen.

It is also rendered ludicrous by the fact that the United States spent US$60 billion in the reconstruction of Iraq – almost 7X of what it allegedly stole.

Also consider the fact that Iraqi oil production only reached 4.4 million barrels per day in 2016. Assuming an average sale price of USD 60 per barrel, it would take them 311 years to sell enough oil to make $30 trillion.

Fact #3 : US Did Not Steal $20 Trillion Of Iraqi Gold

The United States also did not steal gold from Iraq, certainly not $20 trillion worth of gold!

All those photos of US soldiers with Iraqi gold bars are genuine, but they only show them taking photos with the gold they seized in Iraq.

The Iraqi gold bars (as well as currency and other valuables) that US soldiers seized were transported to the US Army’s headquarters in Kuwait.

There, they were examined by the Secret Service and/or the US Department of Treasury to determine their authenticity and value, before being returned to the Central Iraqi Treasury or the Development Fund of Iraq (DFI).

This is a picture of Lt. Col. Scott Schmidt, who was in charge of the 230th Finance Battalion. The battalion’s job was to seize Iraqi assets like currency, gold bars and other valuables.

Fact #4 : The Entire World Does Not Have So Much Gold!

In 2003, Iraq had under 6 tonnes of gold reserves, worth less than $70 million. So how can the United States possibly steal 20 trillion dollars worth of gold from Iraq? $20 trillion worth of gold would weigh at least 1,714,285 tonnes in 2003.

Guess how much gold mankind has ever mined in history? Only 208,874 tonnes as of February 2023 – which is just 12% of what people are claiming that the United States stole from Iraq.

As of January 2023, the value of all the gold in the world is only USD 13 trillion – less than 2/3 of what the conspiracy theory claims the United States stole from Iraq… and that’s only because gold prices have gone up tremendously since 2003.

Even with the much higher gold price, it would take an additional 90 years of mining gold before the entire world has $20 trillion worth of gold for the US government to steal.

Now that you know the truth, please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check out!

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He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Do you now need ETA to travel to the UK?!

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Do you now need ETA – Electronic Travel Authorisation – to travel to the UK?! Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!

Claim : You need ETA to travel to the UK!

A video clip called New UK travel requirements has gone viral on WhatsApp and social media. It warns that people who travel to the UK on or after 15 November 2023, must apply for an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA).

This has led some people who already booked their flights to the UK to panic, as they were not aware of such requirements.

Truth : UK is rolling out ETA over time

Here is what you need to know about the UK ETA programme, and what countries are affected.

Video is genuine

First, I would like to point out that the video is genuine, and was originally posted by the UK Home Office on 9 March 2023.

It appears to have been edited and shared by Homely Stay UK on WhatsApp and social media, where it was shared without context, leading to mass panic.

UK will soon require ETA for non-visa travellers

The warning is, of course, true – the United Kingdom will soon require non-visa travellers to apply and pay for an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA).

The ETA scheme is part of the UK’s plan to fully digitise its borders by 2025. But note that the ETA only applies to travellers who currently do NOT require a visa to travel to the UK.

An Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) will soon be a requirement for people who do not need a visa to come to the UK. It will give you permission to travel to the UK, and it will be electronically linked to your passport.

You’ll need an ETA to:

come to the UK for up to 6 months for tourism, visiting family and friends, business or study
come to the UK for up to 3 months on the Creative Worker visa concession
transit through the UK – including if you’re not going through UK border control

Once it is fully implemented, these travellers will not require an ETA to travel to the UK:

a British or Irish passport
permission to live, work, or study in the UK
a visa to enter the UK

Only Qatar was affected in November 2023

What the video does not reveal is that only travellers from Qatar must have an ETA to travel to the UK from 15 November 2023 onwards.

No other country is affected by this 15 November 2023 deadline, only Qatar. So stop panicking!

If you’re from another country : You do not need to apply for an ETA now. More nationalities will be added to the scheme later.

Even if you are a resident of Qatar, there is no need to panic – you can only apply for an ETA from 25 October 2023 onwards.

UK will rollout ETA through 2024-2025

The United Kingdom will slowly roll out its ETA programme throughout 2024.

From 22 February 2024 onwards, travellers from these six countries in the Middle East will need an ETA to travel to the UK:

Bahrain
Jordan
Kuwait
Oman
Saudi Arabia
United Arab Emirates

Even travellers from these countries do not need to apply until 1 February 2024 onwards.

All non-visa travellers from all other countries will need an ETA by 2025. On 10 September 2024, the UK government finally revealed its schedule for 83 new countries to apply for ETA in 2025.

How much does UK ETA cost?

Each traveller will require his or her own ETA, including children and babies. Each ETA will cost £10 per applicant.

How long does each ETA last?

Your ETA will last for 2 years, and can use it to make multiple visits to the UK. However, you should know that having an ETA does not guarantee entry to the UK.

In addition, the ETA is not transferrable to a new / renewed passport. If your passport expires in less than 2 years, you will need to get a new ETA for your new / renewed passport.

How to apply for UK ETA?

You can apply for your UK ETA through the UK government ETA application portal, or using the UK ETA mobile app which you can download from the App Store and Google Play Store.

You will need to take and upload a photo of the passport you will use to travel to the UK, and scan your face. You will also need to take and upload a photo of yourself, and answer some questions.

You will then have to pay for your UK ETA application using a credit card, a debit card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay.

Please note that you will need to complete your UK ETA application within 20 minutes, or it will time out and you will need to start the whole process over again.

You will usually get a decision within 3 working days, but there may be delays if the UK government needs to make further checks

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He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Bantuan Rakyat Malaysia Scam Alert!

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Watch out for the Bantuan Rakyat Malaysia scam on WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook and Twitter!

Find out how this scam works, and WARN your family and friends!

Bantuan Rakyat Malaysia 2023 Scam Alert!

These scam messages about Bantuan Tunai Rakyat (BTR) 2023, or Bantuan Percuma Kerajaan Malaysia 2023, is going viral on WhatsApp, Telegram, and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

CARA SEMAKAN TARIKH BAGI PENERIMA BANTUAN RM600 DIKREDITKAN SETIAP BULAN

Untuk mereka yang layak, anda boleh lakukan semakan dengan mengikuti cara yang diterangkan.

Baca Cara Semakan Bantuan 👇
https://bntuanrakyatmalaysia.lynk.eu.org/

SHARE INFO ini kepada rakan-rakan dan saudara mara untuk manfaat semua

HOW TO CHECK THE DATE FOR RECIPIENTS OF ASSISTANCE RM600 CREDIT EVERY MONTH

For those who are eligible, you can check by following the described method.

Read How to Check Help 👇
https://bntuanrakyatmalaysia.lynk.eu.org/

SHARE this INFO to friends and relatives for the benefit of all

As one lady shared in the video below, she got tricked by the scammers, who took over her Telegram account to send the same scam message to all of her contacts!

While she claimed that she did not click any link, I will show you how she got scammed…

Bantuan Rakyat Malaysia Scam : How Does It Work?

Warning : To show you how the scammers work, I will share the links they use. I will highlight those dangerous links in red. Do NOT go to those links.

Super Long Link

To trick people into clicking on the scam links, the scammers intentionally use a misleading and very long URL, so you are less likely to notice the domain.

This is the scam link : https://bntuanrakyatmalaysia.lynk.eu.org/

Note how the scammer used a long list of descriptive keywords – “bantuan“, “rakyat“, “malaysia“, “lynk“, which helps to mislead people, and make it more difficult for them to notice that the domain is “eu.org“.

Obviously, eu.org is not a Malaysian government domain (which ends with .gov.my), and it has nothing to do with Malaysia or financial aid. This domain also has nothing to do with the European Union.

EU.org provides free subdomains, and so scammers use it to not only run their scams, but to give their scams a more “legitimate-looking domain”.

Pro Tip : Always check the domain of a link before you click on it. Avoid super-long links like this because they are often used to mask the domain name.

Fake Telegram Invitation

After clicking to go to https://bntuanrakyatmalaysia.lynk.eu.org/, you will be taken to what looks like an invitation to join a Telegram group. But in reality, it is a fake Telegram invitation.

A real Telegram invitation will have a link like this – https://t.me/XXXXXXXX. But this scam page has the link – https://bntuanrakyatmalaysia.lynk.eu.org/my.php.

Also, a real Telegram invitation can detect if you are using Windows / Mac or Android / iOS, and suggest that the right download for your device.

The invitation also has a glaring typo – the link says Massage Now, rather than Message Now. Hilarious!

In any case, a real Telegram invitation will not ask you to Message Now. Rather, it will allow you to either View In Telegram, or Preview channel in the web browser itself.

Fake Telegram Login Page

If you click on Join Group, you will be taken to this Telegram login page. Even though it offers you a list of countries to select from, the only option is Malaysia.

WARNING – THIS IS A SCAM PAGE. This is what is known in cybersecurity as a “phishing attack”.

First of all, Telegram invitations will never ask you to log into your Telegram account. It will simply launch the Telegram app and load the group for you.

Secondly, if you look at the link, it leads to the same scam domain, specifically https://bntuanrakyatmalaysia.lynk.eu.org/my.php.

Do NOT log into your Telegram account in this page.

If you log into your Telegram account using this phishing page, then the scammers will gain access to your Telegram account, and take it over for their own use.

They can then use your Telegram account to send the same scam message, or worse, cheat your family and friends of their money!

The lady in the viral video likely logged into this phishing page, thus giving the scammers control of her Telegram account. That was likely how they were able to message everyone on her contact list.

She also likely did not enable Two-Step Verification in Telegram, which would let her recover her account even after scammers have gained access.

That is why people who were hit by this scam had to call and inform their relatives and friends, or publicly post about it to warn all of their contacts.

Unfortunately, it is not always possible to warn all of their contacts, and inevitably, someone will get cheated of their hard-earned money. That’s why these scams are so popular – they really work, and scammers are making a ton of money!

Help us fight against these scammers. SHARE this article out, and WARN your family and friends!

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Media Prima / Nielsen Fake Job Scam Alert!

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Please watch out for the Media Prima Digital / Nielsen fake job scam! Don’t forget to warn your family and friends!

Media Prima / Nielsen Job Scam : How They Reel You In…

Scammers are targeting people through WhatsApp, offering an easy way to make extra money through a part-time job you can do online.

I am Shirley , a permanent employee at Media Prima Digital Company in the recruitment department. The HR department sent me this number and asked me to contact you to get you to a job opportunity.

I just want to share some work-from-home freelance job information offer .You don’t have to spend a lot of time on the job.I can explain if you are interested

The job appears to be very simple – just use your Instagram account to follow Media Prima Digital’s brand partners, to boost their follower count and exposure.

Our job is to use Instagram to follow our various partner brands and work with Malaysian brand influencers to increase their exposure. We hire freelancers to work with the hope of earning extra income every day.

You don’t have to do any marketing for the brand, you just have to subscribe Brand. The salary will be paid daily using TnG or Bank transfer.

Recommended : How Fake Job Syndicates Operate!

Best of all, the scammers are promising that you can make easy money doing nothing more than help Media Prima Digital boost their brand partners on Instagram…

This job is like freelancing. You can do it from anywhere and anytime if you can use social media. RM 110-550 per day if you can do it energetically without even a little worry. You can earn up to RM 3,300-16,500 per month.

Wow! That’s more than what many people earn in Malaysia, so why the heck not, right? Just use Instagram to help big brands “cheat” on their follower counts. Unethical, but not illegal, right? And easy money to make.

The scammer will let you try one or two tasks to show you just how easy it is to make quick money. Wow – you can earn RM10 just by following one Instagram account? Easy!

Recommended : How To Block Facebook Ads + Pay Scammers!

Media Prima / Nielsen Job Scam Runs On Telegram

To get paid, the scammer hands you over to the actual fake job syndicate on Telegram…

Why Telegram? Telegram is popular with scammers because it not only offers end-to-end encryption, it won’t expose their actual telephone numbers.

Go to telegram and add to our receptionist. Use this username @AD or you can easily add her using this Link. https://t.me/KL999654

After successfully adding her send her a message. (I’m a new member.) code: JZ 450032 (ML-OS)Please send me a screenshot to confirm after sending code message to her.

She will invite you to join our working group where you can accomplish many tasks and earn more salary.

Recommended : Watch Out For Telegram Phishing Attack!

This “receptionist” will quickly pay you the RM10 (the bait), to “prove” that this is a genuine operation. She will then explain what you need to do to earn RM200 to RM300 a day. That’s more than what most people make in a day!

The finance department is sending money to you, please inform me when you receive it! Now let me give you a detailed description of our part-time work

The main job is to help Instagram users follow their page. You get RM2 for completing one task. RM80+ commission per day depending on your hours. The daily income is between RM 200 and RM 300, as long as you have enough time to do it, you can join

You will get RM2-RM18 commission for completing the task and an additional RM80 salary, which will be calculated based on your working hours today, ending at 8pm

Complete a task for RM2, accumulate RM10 and you can automatically receive commission. The more tasks you do, the more commissions you earn and the higher your salary

Update the task every 20 minutes and send me screenshots when you’re done so I know how much you’ve accomplished. The timeout task has expired and does not need to be completed. Do the latest task in the group

Only RM2 per task? But okay, they are also offering a daily commission. You work it out, and decide – what the heck, you can still get a decent sum every day. So you agree to participate.

After you chug along, accumulating a small but nice sum over several hours, they hit you with the scam… you have to invest your money for the next job.

Subscribe to Tasks:
In order to thank you for your support to our company we hereby announce the welfare task and strive for the quota for everyone
Subscription Rule (2-4 orders) This task is based on market demand, we are recruiting customers to transfer subscription to increase transaction flow.
Increase market turnover. 5 to 10 minutes to complete the task, such as subscribe RM100, get RM130, 30% profit.
===========================
MYR 100 Cash back MYR 130 (Newbie subscription)
MYR 200 Cash back MYR 260
MYR 300 Cash back MYR 390
MYR 600 Cash back MYR 780
MYR 1000 Cashback MYR 1300

This is when your receptionist will pressure you into at least taking the “newbie subscription” of “just RM100”. She will assure you that you will instantly get RM30 profit.

In the meantime, people in the Telegram group will publicly announce that they are buying subscriptions of RM300, RM600, etc. These are likely just accounts run by the scammers.

If you hesitate, the receptionist will tell you that you cannot proceed without subscribing to this task. If you refuse, you will also lose the money you earned earlier. This is how they trap you.

If you jump right into it, the group will likely pay you the first time, to tempt you into investing more the next time around. That’s when they take your money for good.

Don’t think that you can’t really lose much on such fake job scams. One university student recently explained how he lost over RM22,000 in a similar job scam.

There’s one trick that this scammer is using. He let me start with a small investment, then proceed with stages. They force me to continue because I want to rescue the money that I put in in the previous task. So it keeps getting bigger and bigger.

So please AVOID such online job offers, and help us fight these scammers – SHARE this article out, and WARN your family and friends!

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Name : Adrian Wong
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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PDRM Warning : Watch Out For MyBayar Scam!

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PDRM is warning motorists not to fall for the MyBayar scam! Here is what you need to know about the MyBayar PDRM scam!

PDRM Warning : Watch Out For MyBayar Scam

On 7 August 2023, the Cyber Crime division of the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) posted an alert warning motorists not to fall for the MyBayar scam.

The MyBayar PDRM scam starts with an official-looking email that warns motorists that they have been caught contravening the law, and offers a cheap RM50 fine if paid within 5 days:

Last notice of contravention before prosecution

Dear recipient,

We are writing to draw your attention to a recent traffic violation in Malaysian jurisdiction.

Our traffic enforcement staff have observed your vehicle parked in a no-parking zone. This contravenes section (no. 2016-691] of the Road Traffic Act.

As a result of this infringement, a fine of MYR 50 has been imposed. This fine must be paid within 5 days of the date of this notification to avoid further legal consequences.

Failure to pay the fine within the allotted time may result in legal proceedings being taken against you, which could lead to increased fines, penalties and the possible suspension of your driving license.

MyBayar PDRM Scam : How Does It Work?!

Many people who received the MyBayar PDRM email might be shocked to find out that they were caught committing a traffic violation, and then relieved that it was only RM50 if they paid quickly.

That’s how the scammers trap their victims – by offering a cheap RM50 fine, when we all know that fines for traffic offences are at least RM150, and can go all the way up to RM1,000!

Those who received this fake MyBayar PDRM email would be tempted to quickly pay the cheap RM50 fine, before it becomes a lot more expensive!

But if you take a closer look at the email, you will spot some problems with it:

Weird English : The email title of “Last notice of contravention before prosecution” is nonsensical.
Typo in the name : The fake email used My Bayar PDRM, instead of MyBayar PDRM.
Lack of name and personal details : The fake email refers generically to “Dear recipient“, without listing your full name and MyKad number.
Lack of vehicle details : The fake email doesn’t mention the vehicle make and plate number.
Lack of location details : The fake email does not mention where the offence occurred, or even when it occurred.
Fine is much too low : PDRM traffic fines are never as low as RM50. The cheapest fine is RM150 for Category 4 offences, but you can pay as low as RM70 within 15 days.
No such law : The fake email refers to the Road Traffic Act. There is no such act in Malaysia. The proper name is the Road Transport Act 1987 (Act 333).
No such section : If you look at the Malaysia Road Transport Act 1987 (PDF download), you will see that there is no such thing as Section 2016-691.

The email appears to be from My Bayar PDRM (typo in the name), but if you inspect the email address, you will see that it was sent by “in-to-no-reply@silverbackgames.xxx” or “hello@sooqr.com” or some other email address.

Obviously, this email did not originate from an official PDRM email address! This should immediately tell you that this is a fake or scam email!

If you click on the Pay My Fine link in the scam email, you will be taken to a fake My Bayar PDRM website (with the same typo in the name).

You may notice that you now have 7 days to pay the RM 50 fine, instead of just 5 days in the email. Odd, isn’t it?

Also odd is the fact that the page does not mention your name, your MyKad number, your vehicle type and model, or even its plate number! The page also doesn’t mention where the offence took place, or the time you were caught committing said offence.

Do NOT proceed after this point… This is a scam website!

But if you have itchy fingers, and click on the Pay The Fine button, you will be asked to pay for the RM50 fine using your debit or credit card.

Needless to say, PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR DEBIT / CREDIT CARD DETAILS!!!

If you provide these scammers with your debit / credit card details and TAC / OTP numbers, they will be able to charge ANY AMOUNT they want to your credit card, or withdraw ANY AMOUNT they want from your bank account!

It’s even worse if you are asked to log into your bank account to pay the fine. DO NOT DO THAT!

If you provide them with your bank login and password, as well as OTP/TAC number, these scammers will be able to transfer money out of your bank account!

Please note – this is a scam! This is a phishing attack to gain access to your credit card and/or bank account.

Regardless of how you get any notification from PDRM about any traffic offence you may have committed, you should always check the status through these official MyBayar PDRM options:

MyBayar PDRM website : https://mybayar.rmp.gov.my/
MyBayar PDRM app for Android : Google Play Store
MyBayar PDRM app for iOS : Apple App Store

Please SHARE this warning with your family and friends!

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Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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PSA : You Still Need Physical Driving Licence Overseas!

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Please be warned – you still need a physical driving licence when you are driving overseas! Your digital driving licence is most likely not valid or legal overseas!

Fined Overseas For Not Having Physical Driving Licence!

In May 2023, two Malaysian men were fined for failing to produce their physical driving licences in Thailand.

Both men were stopped by police while riding motorcycles on car lanes in Phuket. When the Thai police officer asked for their driving licence, they showed their digital driving licences using the MyJPJ app.

However, the Thai police officer said that their digital driving licences were not valid, even though the men explained Malaysia adopted the digital driving licence in February 2023.

In the end, both men had to pay a compound at the police station for not having a valid driving licence.

Even though the incident occurred several months ago, the issue only went viral after the men posted their video in Twitter on 3 August 2023.

And lepastu kalau bawa kenderaan ke Thailand, polis sana mintak kita fizikal kad, kalau takde boleh kena saman

Puas aku explain cakap malaysia dah tak pakai physical card, dia kata tak boleh! End up aku dgn @iqbalasyrafff kena saman jugak 😂 https://t.co/rLBuZSSRsZ pic.twitter.com/2BcCQjY7q8

— acapkay (@acapkay) August 3, 2023

PSA : You Still Need Physical Driving Licence Overseas!

Please be warned that even though Malaysia has adopted the digital driving licence (e-LLM) since 10 February 2023, it is only valid in Malaysia, and not overseas!

In the future, other countries will likely accept digital driving licences, but until that happens, you still need to bring and use a physical driving licence while driving overseas.

On 5 August 2023, Malaysia Transport Minister Anthony Loke commented on the two Malaysian men who were fined in Thailand for failing to produce a physical driving licence. He said that the digital licence is only valid in Malaysia.

He pointed out that the matter (of accepting digital licences) was subject to laws in that country, and the ministry has no authority to determine how laws in other countries are enforced.

He also said that the Road Transport Department (JPJ) will continue to issue physical driving licences, so those who wish to drive overseas should apply for one at JPJ branches when renewing their driving licence.

We have no stopped the issuance of physical copies of driving licences, so if they want to drive in a country that requires a physical licence then they can apply for it at RTD counters when renewing their licence.
– Malaysia Transport Minister Anthony Loke

Physical Driving Licence Only Available In JPJ Branches

Truth be told – this was already mentioned when the digital driving licence was adopted in February 2023. This was what I pointed out back then:

JPJ will continue to offer the physical driving licence to motorists who still prefer it, or need one to drive overseas.

But understandably, many of us probably missed that part. Or forgot that foreign governments may not readily accept the new digital driving licence.

While I’m here, I should also point out that the physical driving licence is now available only at JPJ branches. This may be a bit of a hassle, since it used to be available in Pos Malaysia branches too.

But the good news is – you can now renew your driving licence for 10 years, with a 10% discount to boot! So this should be a once-in-a-decade hassle.

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Maybank Online + Card Services Finally Up + Running!

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Maybank just announced that all of its online, mobile and card services are up and running after going offline earlier today! Here is what you need to know…

Maybank Online + Card Services Finally Up + Running!

At 3:46 PM on 7 August 2023, Maybank sent out an alert that all of its online, mobile and card services are temporarily unavailable

Maybank2U web banking services
M2U and MAE mobile banking apps
debit and credit card usage

The only good news is that ATM and counter services appear to be unaffected by this downtime.

This announcement came hours after people started complaining that they could not log into the Maybank website.

As of 4 PM, none of Maybank’s online or mobile services are working. Neither will you be able to use your Maybank debit or credit card to make payments.

Update @ 4:30 PM : Maybank just announced that it restored Maybank2U web, the MAE app, and both debit card and credit card services!

Earlier : Maybank Online + Card Services All Down!

The Maybank downtime appeared to occur at around 1 PM or so, with Maybank initially asking users to switch to the MAE mobile app:

Good day and any inconvenience is much regretted. Based on our checking, the MAE app is operating fine at the moment.uled maintenance to improve your experience and will be back up shortly. Sorry for the inconvenience.

However, some Maybank users soon pointed out that their MAE app wasn’t working either!

Be Right Back!

We’re experiencing communication error. Please try again later.

That’s when Maybank support staff claimed that they were experiencing “intermittent slowness” on their MAE app and Maybank2U web platforms:

Kindly be informed that we are experiencing an intermittent slowness on our MAE App & M2U web platforms.
We are working to resolve the matter as soon as possible. Our sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused. Thank you for your patience and continuous support.

It was only about two hours later that Maybank finally admitted that all of its mobile and online banking services were down, as well as its debit and credit card services.

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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PDRM Warning : It’s Illegal To Stop On Zebra Crossing!

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PDRM is warning motorists not to stop their vehicles on any zebra crossing, or be subject to a fine of up to RM2,000, or 6 month’s jail!

PDRM Warning : It’s Illegal To Stop On Zebra Crossing!

The Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) is warning motorists not to stop their vehicles on any zebra crossing, or be subject to a fine of up to RM2,000, or 6 month’s jail!

On 28 July 2023, PDRM’s Traffic Enforcement and Investigation Department (JSPT) announced that it would initiate a nationwide operation to enforce traffic laws under Op Pematuhan Peraturan Lala Lintas (Traffic Regulations Enforcement Operation).

One of the operations it is now carrying out is to enforce Rule 38 of the Road Traffic Rules 1959, which prohibits motorists from stopping their vehicles on any zebra crossing, unless it is out of their control – they are blocked by other vehicles from moving out of the way, or if it is necessary to prevent an accident.

OP PEMATUHAN PERATURAN LALU LINTAS

Jabatan Siasatan Dan Penguatkuasaan Trafik (JSPT) Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) pada 28 Julai 2023 telah mengeluarkan satu kenyataan media berhubung pelaksanaan OP Pematuhan Peraturan Lalu di seluruh negara.

Salah satu daripada operasi yang dijalankan adalah Kaedah 38 Kaedah-Kaedah Lalu Lintas Jalan (LN166/1959) – Tidak Boleh Memberhentikan Kenderaan Di Lintasan, menyatakan bahawa ;

– Pemandu kenderaan tidak boleh menyebabkan kenderaan atau mana-mana bahagian kenderaannya berhenti di dalam kawasan lintasan melainkan sama ada dia dilarang daripada bergerak oleh keadaan yang diluar kawalannya atau jika perlu baginya untuk berhenti bagi mengelakkan kemalangan.

Here is the English translation:

TRAFFIC REGULATIONS ENFORCEMENT OPERATION

The Traffic Investigation and Enforcement Department (JSPT) of the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) on 28 July 2023 issued a media statement regarding the launch of the Traffic Regulations Enforcement Operation throughout the country.

One of the operations carried out is Rule 38 of the Road Traffic Rules (LN166/1959) – Not Allowed To Stop Vehicles At Crossings, which state that;

– The driver must not cause the vehicle or any part of the vehicle to stop in the crossing area unless he is prohibited from moving by circumstances beyond his control or if it is necessary for him to stop to avoid an accident.

To be clear – all motorists – whether they are driving a car, a van, or riding a motorcycle, should not cross the white line. If any part of their vehicle crosses the white line, that constitutes an offence.

Pengguna jalan raya diingatkan untuk mematuhi peraturan lalulintas dan tidak berhenti melebihi garisan putih kerana perbuatan ini adalah salah satu punca berlakunya kesesakan lalu lintas, berlakunya kemalangan dan juga boleh mengganggu pengguna jalanraya yang lain.

Road users are reminded to obey traffic rules and not stop beyond the white line because this act is one of the causes of traffic jams, accidents and can also disturb other road users.

Fine / Jail If Caught Stopping On Zebra Crossing!

JSPT is also warning that motorists may be fined up to RM2,000, or jailed for up to 6 months, if they are caught stopping any part of their vehicles on any zebra crossing.

Mana-mana individu yang melakukan kesalahan boleh dikenakan denda tidak melebihi RM2,000 atau dipenjarakan selama tempoh tidak melebihi enam bulan.

Any individual who commits an offense may be fined not exceeding RM2,000 or imprisoned for a period not exceeding six months.

In other words – this is a serious offence, with serious consequences. Most of us motorists never think about this. So this is a timely warning. Please SHARE this warning with your family and friends!

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He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Anwar Ibrahim Announces Financial Aid For Malaysians!

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Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim just announced a slew of financial aid to help Malaysians deal with inflation this year!

Anwar Ibrahim Announces Financial Aid For Malaysians!

On Thursday, 27 July 2023, Malaysia Prime Minister announced a slew of financial aid during the launch of Ekonomi Madani: Memperkasa Rakyat (Madani Economy: Empowering the People) in Kuala Lumpur.

Here is a summary of the financial aid Anwar Ibrahim announced to help Malaysians deal with inflationary pressures this year.

Adults Earning Less Than RM100K To Get RM100

The Malaysian government will give RM100 e-Tunai cash incentive to all Malaysian citizens aged 21 years and above, earning RM100,000 or less in annual wages.

This cash incentive will be distributed via e-wallet, based on the success and impact of the e-Belia Rahman e-wallet credit rollout programme in the past. This incentive is also expected to spur digital payments, and the economy.

The government estimates that this cash incentive will benefit 10 million citizens in the B40 and M40 categories, and cost the treasury about RM1 billion (about US$ 220.9 million).

The estimated number of eligible recipients is expected to be around 10 million Rakyat comprising those of the B40 and M40 with allocations of around a billion ringgit.

Recommended : Bantuan Tunai Rakyat Malaysia 2023 Scam Alert!

Civil Servants To Get RM300

Civil servants at Grade 56 and below will receive RM300 in special assistance aid within the next two weeks.

This special assistance is expected to benefit 1.3 million civil servants, while they wait for the adjustment of their salaries and allowances.

Government Pensioners To Get RM200

Government pensioners will receive RM200 in special assistance aid within the next two weeks. This special assistance is expected to benefit over a million pensioners.

Civil Servant Salaries To Be Reviewed

The Malaysian government will review the salaries of civil services, and adjust them according to the nation’s financial ability.

Minimum Wage To Be Reviewed

The Malaysian government will review the minimum wage, and explore the progressive wage model to reduce reliance on foreign workers.

120% Financing For Homes <RM300K

The Malaysian government will enhance the Housing Credit Guarantee Scheme (HCGS) provided by the Housing Credit Guarantee Company Berhad (SJKP).

The SJKP will now provide housing loans of up to 120% of the house’s value, for houses worth up to RM300,000. This will allow purchasers to cover the legal cost of the purchase, as well as renovations and furnishing their home.

The government will guarantee the scheme with a fund of RM5 billion (about US$1.1 billion).

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Will JPJ Require Eye + Medical Tests For Senior Drivers?!

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Will JPJ require senior drivers to get an eye test and medical examination to renew their driving licence in 2024?!

Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!

Updated @ 2023-07-21 : Added JPJ’s official statement on the viral claim
Originally posted @ 2023-07-20

Claim : JPJ To Require Eye + Medical Tests For Senior Drivers!

This message has gone viral on WhatApp, claiming that the Malaysia Road Transport Department (JPJ) will require senior drivers who are 65 years and older to get an eye test and medical report before they can renew their driving licence in 2024!

Post as received!👇🏻

Notice
Hi seniors, those above 65 yrs will need to get eye tests & medical from 2024 to get your driving licence re-newed.
Go to jpj now to get your licence extended at the warga Emas counter. We just did it. Very fast. Less than 15 mins.
Mine expires 2027 so they extended till 2034. Rm30/yr. pay with credit card. Very easy.
1. At jpj pj, go to the right door -enquiry to get your number.
2. Then go to pintu B to warga Mas counter & give your driving licence & pay.
3. Then go a counter on the left to give the guy your ic. Wait for him to give u your new driving licence.

Truth : JPJ Does NOT Require Eye + Medical Tests For Senior Drivers!

This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS circulating on WhatsApp and social media, and here are the reasons why…

Fact #1 : Eye Test + Medical Report Not Required To Renew Driving Licence

First, let me just point out that the renewal of your driving licence has very few requirements:

The driver must not be blacklisted
You can only renew your driving licence for up to 10 years.
You must provide the following documents:
– Original MyKad / passport (or copies, if renewed by a representative)
– Original MyKad / passport of representative (if renewed by a representative)
– Original driving licence
– 1 colour photo (25 mm x 32 mm, with a white background)
– Fee of RM2 per year for Class A/A1)
– Fee of RM20 per year for Class B, B2 and C
– Fee of RM30 per year for Class D and above

There is no requirement to undertake any eye test, or provide a medical report, in order to renew your driving licence.

Fact #2 : JPJ Labelled The Claim As Fake News!

A check of the JPJ website and official Facebook page confirmed that the Malaysia Road Transport Department has not announced any additional requirements to renew your driving licence.

There was also no such announcement on the official Facebook page of Malaysia Transport Minister Anthony Loke.

At around 5:45 PM on July 20, 2023, JPJ finally issued a statement, calling the claim it will require senior drivers to undertake an eye test and provide a medical report to renew their driving licence as “fake news“. Here is the statement in English:

VIRAL MESSAGE DISCLAIMER NOTICE

The Malaysian Road Transport Department (JPJ) would like to inform everyone that the claim that went viral on WhatsApp about Senior Citizens aged 65 and above being required to undergo eye examination and health examination starting in 2024 IS NOT TRUE.

Accordingly, the driving license renewal for senior citizens remains as usual.

In this regard, JPJ advises the public not to be so gullible and to contact the nearest JPJ office to get more accurate information so as not to be deceived.

Fact #3 : PDRM Asked For Fit To Drive Test In 2021

This fake news is likely based on 2021 news reports about a possible Fit To Drive test for senior drivers in Malaysia.

In September 2021, Malaysian police asked the government to consider introducing a “Fit To Drive” assessment system to evaluate senior drivers who are 60 years and older, before they are allowed to renew their driving / riding licences.

At that time, federal traffic police chief Azisman Alias explained that the suggestion to the Malaysian Transport Ministry and the Road Transport Department (JPJ) was based on the number of cases involving senior citizens who were caught driving against the flow of traffic, and committing other offences at traffic lights and road junctions.

We need to assess the capability of senior citizens on the road because of the risk posed to other road users as well as themselves.

There have been several cases involving drivers under the influence of drugs and alcohol. We also see a rising number of cases of driving against the flow involving the elderly aged 60 to 70 years and above.

When the police detained them, it was apparent some of them aged 70 and above had some sort of dementia or senility. Some of them were also found to be not alert to certain traffic conditions.

He suggested, at that time, that the medical fraternity alongside the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) should conduct a study on the possibility of introducing aptitude or cognitive tests for senior drivers.

They (senior drivers) should only be allowed to renew their licences provided they undergo a medical check-up and receive confirmation from a doctor that they are fit to drive, mentally and physically.

He cited developed countries such as the UK, Canada, Singapore and Australia, which have introduced similar tests. For example, senior drivers in Singapore who are over 65 years old must undergo an annual medical examination by a medical practitioner.

That suggestion was met with public uproar. The Transport Minister at that time, Wee Ka Siong, also spoke out against it, calling it discriminatory:

Many drivers far above the age of 70 display greater competence in driving compared to those who are younger.

Simply refusing an elderly the means to drive or ride on the basis of their age or based on isolated or anecdotal evidence is discriminatory

As of July 2023, the Malaysia Transport Ministry and the Road Transport Department have not implemented, or even announced, any such Fit To Drive test for senior drivers.

Fact #4 : Senior Drivers To Voluntarily Surrender Driving Licence

Ultimately, as long as senior drivers have not been blacklisted for committing traffic offences, they can continue to renew driving licences.

This fake news is similar to the 2021 viral claim that senior drivers who are 70 years and above must surrender their driving licences to JPJ.

As Wee Ka Siong, the Transport Minister at that time explained, the Malaysia Road Transport Act 1987 leaves the responsibility to the driver to voluntarily surrender their driving licence if their health is unsatisfactory and may endanger other road users.

Actually, Section 30 of the Road Transport Act 1987 leaves the responsibility to the driver to voluntarily surrender their driving license when they have unsatisfactory health conditions and may endanger other road users.

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Bantuan Tunai Rakyat Malaysia 2023 Scam Alert!

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Watch out for the Bantuan Tunai Rakyat Malaysia 2023 scam on WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook and Twitter!

Find out how this scam works, and WARN your family and friends!

Bantuan Tunai Rakyat Malaysia 2023 Scam Alert!

These scam messages about Bantuan Tunai Rakyat (BTR) 2023, or Bantuan Percuma Kerajaan Malaysia 2023, is going viral on WhatsApp, Telegram, and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

Bantuan percuma kerajaan 2023 khas untuk yang mana bergelar usahawan,pendidik,suri rumah,kerani dan yang kerja sendiri di waktu sekarang, boleh dapatkan geran RM2500 😱 🧕👩‍🍳👩‍💻👷‍♂️👨‍🎓👨‍🌾
✅ Bantuan ni percuma
✅ Tak perlu bayar semula
✅ Maksimum sehingga RM2,500 / RM5,000
JOM CLAIM:

Free government assistance 2023 especially for those who are entrepreneurs, educators, housewives, clerks and self-employed at the moment, can get a grant of RM2500 😱 🧕👩‍🍳👩‍💻👷‍♂️👨‍🎓👨‍🌾
✅ This help is free
✅ No need to pay again
✅ Maximum up to RM2,500 / RM5,000
CLAIM HERE:

As one lady shared in the video below, she got tricked by the scammers, who took over her Telegram account to send the same scam message to all of her contacts!

While she claimed that she did not click any link, I will show you how she got scammed…

Bantuan Tunai Rakyat Malaysia Scam : How Does It Work?

Warning : To show you how the scammers work, I will share the links they use. I will highlight those dangerous links in red. Do NOT go to those links.

Super Long Link

To trick people into clicking on the scam links, the scammers intentionally use a misleading and very long URL, so you are less likely to notice the domain.

This is the scam link : http://bantuan-kerajaan-my-fase-3-trd.financialanchorllc.com

Note how the scammer used a long list of descriptive keywords – “bantuan“, “kerajaan“, “my“, “fase 3“, which helps to mislead people, and make it more difficult for them to notice that the domain is “financialanchorllc.com“.

Obviously, financialanchorllc.com is not a Malaysian government domain (which ends with .gov.my), and it has nothing to do with Malaysia or financial aid.

A quick WHOIS check reveals that the ownership of this domain is hidden by a paid service – which is not what a genuine government agency would do.

Pro Tip : Always check the domain of a link before you click on it. Avoid super-long links like this because they are often used to mask the domain name.

Fake Telegram Invitation

After clicking to go to https://bantuan-kerajaan-my-fase-3-trd.financialanchorllc.com, you will be taken to what looks like an invitation to join a Telegram group. But in reality, it is a fake Telegram invitation.

A real Telegram invitation will have a link like this – https://t.me/XXXXXXXX. But this scam page has the link – https://bantuan-kerajaan-my-fase-3-trd.financialanchorllc.com.

Also, a real Telegram invitation can detect if you are using Windows / Mac or Android / iOS, and suggest that the right download for your device.

A real Telegram invitation will not ask you to Join Group. Rather, it will allow you to either View In Telegram, or Preview channel in the web browser itself.

Fake Telegram Login Page

If you click on Join Group, you will be taken to this Telegram login page.

WARNING – THIS IS A SCAM PAGE. This is what is known in cybersecurity as a “phishing attack”.

First of all, Telegram invitations will never ask you to log into your Telegram account. It will simply launch the Telegram app and load the group for you.

Secondly, if you look at the link, it leads to the same scam domain, specifically https://bantuan-kerajaan-my-fase3-gcc.financialanchorllc.com/main/index.php.

Do NOT log into your Telegram account in this page.

If you log into your Telegram account using this phishing page, then the scammers will gain access to your Telegram account, and take it over for their own use.

They can then use your Telegram account to send the same scam message, or worse, cheat your family and friends of their money!

She also likely did not enable Two-Step Verification in Telegram, which would let her recover her account even after scammers have gained access.

That is why people who were hit by this scam had to call and inform their relatives and friends, or publicly post about it to warn all of their contacts.

Help us fight against these scammers. SHARE this article out, and WARN your family and friends!

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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How A University Student Lost RM22K In Online Job Scam!

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Find out how a university student just lost over RM22,000 in an online job scam!

Please SHARE this article to warn your family and friends to avoid such online job scams!

Online Job Scam Are Targeting The Poor + Desperate!

Online job scams have been around for a long, long time. But fake job syndicates have become more active recently, probably because more people are getting laid off, and inflation is eating into our money.

Online job scams come in a variety of ways, but most commonly, you get unsolicited messages through WhatsApp or iMessage, offering you the opportunity to make a lot of money through part-time work, in the comfort of your own home.

This is especially appealing to people who are currently jobless and desperate. Or in this recent case – a university student who is just starting out in life.

I am Shirley , a permanent employee at XXXX Company in the recruitment department. The HR department sent me this number and asked me to contact you to get you to a job opportunity.

Hello! I am Miss Aisyah Binte Ahmed, from The Recruitment Dept. at YYYY Digital, Malaysia. Our company is hiring part-time and full-time online Employees. Can I briefly share the details with you?

How A University Student Lost RM22K In Online Job Scam!

I had earlier written about how fake job syndicates cheat people of their hard-earned money, but I didn’t realise that these scammers are also targeting university students!

A university student recently shared how he quickly lost over RM20,000 to an online job scam, despite being warned that it could be a scam!

How They Reel The Student In…

These online job scams always start by offering their victims an EASY way to make A LOT of money!

It all started two days ago, when an unknown person asked me if I’m interested in a part time job. I usually don’t decline offers like this because I’m also a student looking for internship or job opportunities.

He gave me simple tasks, like subscribing to YouTube channels and get RM10 for each subscription. I was interested as money did really go to my account.

Then, I was added into a group. They would give these free tasks of subscribing to YouTube channels.

These scammers also know that people are now wary of scams, and will always demonstrate their willingness to pay… at least in the beginning.

And occasionally will provide merchant tasks throughout the day, which you bank in a certain amount of money to them, which was said to help improve crypto merchant’s reputation or some sort, then they’ll return you a good amount of earnings after the task is completed. It takes around half an hour to do so. So for these two days I earned around RM500.

This is how the scammers establish trust with their victims, and convince them to “invest” to get even more money!

Recommended : Watch Out For Telegram Phishing Attack!

The Scam Happens Very Quickly

The “merchant tasks” is when they start scamming you, and the scam occurs very quickly. You may think that you’re earning a lot of money, but you will never see a cent of it.

So here’s where the fishing begins. A merchant task has started. A rule was stated that I must complete all the tasks given or I will not get the money that I banked in before.

It doesn’t matter how little you “invest” in this “merchant task” scheme. Once you are in, they will quickly use your “earnings” to force you to keep paying them!

I chose the least risk package, give RM300 to get RM360. Then, I was required to continue the next task. Same, I chose the smallest amount RM2000 to get RM2600. Again, need to continue the next task, I chose the smallest RM5000 to get RM7000. Then, RM15000 to get RM19500.

Then, RM40000 to get RM52000. At this point, I still haven’t realize it’s a scam. All I’m focussed on is I need to take back the money that I banked in, so I’m just thinking about completing the tasks given.

By The Time He Realised… It Was TOO LATE!

Because the university student was so engrossed in getting back the money he “invested” earlier, he didn’t realise that he was giving the scammers more and more money… until it was much too late.

Unfortunately, by the time the university student realised his mistake, it was much too late… He had already lost over RM22K!

At that time, I have not enough money in my bank to fork out RM40k. So I panic and find my friend to lend me some money.

Luckily my friend as a sideliner noticed that this is a scam and stopped me. I woke up finding that evervthing was too late. Just like that, two days, RM22300, gone.

Scammers caught on CCTV by hacker

Many People In The Group Are Scammers

As the university student later realised, many of the people in the group are part of the online job scam syndicate. Their job is to give the victims the perception that this is a legitimate job with many people participating.

During merchant tasks, I’m asked to leave the big group and will be joining a small group of 3-4 members. One of the scary parts in this operation after I realize it’s a scam is that, all the group members in the group are actually controlled by the same person.

Out of the 4 members, two might be playing rich vips who will play the highest package, pressuring you to play with more money, the other person looks like a newcomer like me and plays along with me, choosing the lowest package.

Precautions Were Useless

The university student was actually warned by his parents that it could be a scam. He even prepared for the possibility he could be scammed:

Some Precautions | Made While Attempting This:

I was being very careful with this. I shared with my parents on the first night. My parents did warned me about it being a scam, but didn’t stop me from it since I’m earning something. They just ask me to be extra cautious.

I have two bank accounts, so I moved most of my savings such that I have a “small” account and a “big” account, to prevent losses if anything goes wrong.

I also created a new chat account with another phone number solely for this “part time job”. I also made a plan and promise to only invest my earnings, so I cannot touch my savings.

But as German Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke once said, “No plan survives contact with the enemy“, and the student’s precaution was useless when he got “emotionally invested” in getting his money back, and ended up taking out all of his saving from the “big account”!

I believe we always read about news of scams in Malaysia, asking why are they so dumb, why they fall into these type of scams. Until I’m in their shoes. I was being very cautious taking the above steps and always remind myself to not be greedy, play only the least risk.

The worse part is, when I’m within that situation and cannot think straight. I even use my savings from my “big” account, just because I want to rescue the money I put in.

Recommended : How To Block Facebook Ads + Pay Scammers!

The university student is now “emotionally depressed” and “thinking about suicide” over the loss of so much money. But do the scammers care? No, they couldn’t care less if people commit suicide over the loss of their hard-earned money.

He has also contacted his bank fraud hotline, and lodged a police report. Unfortunately, he is unlikely to ever recover any of the money he lost. But I hope he understands that his life matters more to his family than money, and he can always make back the money as long as he lives.

Please SHARE this article out, and WARN your family and friends!

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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MOF : Extra RM600 STR Benefits Is Fake News!

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The Malaysia Ministry of Finance just issued a warning, calling the viral news about extra RM600 STR benefits fake news!

Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!

Claim : You Can Qualify For Extra RM600 STR Benefits!

People are sharing a message on WhatsApp, which claims to provide you with the opportunity to get RM600 of extra STR (Sumbangan Tunai Rahman) cash benefits!

Here is the original message in Malay (with the scam link removed) and our English translation:

ADA PENERIMA STR YANG LAYAK DAPAT RM600 TAMBAHAN: BERIKUT SENARAI PENUH PENERIMANYA

Senarai Penuh Penerimanya 👇
<link removed>

Bank lagi info di Channel Telegram ==> <link removed>

SHARE INFO dengan rakan-rakan dan keluarga

THERE ARE STR RECIPIENTS WHO ARE ELIGIBLE FOR AN EXTRA RM600: THE FOLLOWING IS THE FULL LIST OF RECIPIENTS

Full List of Recipients 👇
<link removed>

More info on the Telegram Channel ==> <link removed>

SHARE INFO with friends and family

Truth : There Are No Extra RM600 STR Benefits!

This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS and SCAMS circulating on WhatsApp, and social media platforms, and here are the reasons why!

On Wednesday, 5 July 2023, the Malaysia Ministry of Finance posted an official press release labelling the claim of extra RM600 STR (Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah) as fake news.

Here is the official notice in Malay and the English translation:

PERHATIAN BERITA PALSU

Kementerian Kewangan ingin menegaskan bahawa maklumat mengenai tambahan Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah (STR) sebanyak RM600 adalah palsu. Berhati-hati dan jangan mudah terpedaya dengan berita sebegini di Telegram. Tidak pasti, jangan kongsi.

STR Fasa 3 sudah disalurkan pada 26 Jun yang lepas. Bagi memastikan program STR 3 ini disasarkan kepada mereka yang layak, tempoh permohonan rayuan juga akan dibuka mulai 3 hingga 31 Julai 2023. Pemohon boleh mengemukakan dokumen berkaitan untuk semakan semula oleh Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri Malaysia (LHDNM).

BEWARE OF FAKE NEWS

The Ministry of Finance would like to stress that the information regarding the additional Rahmah Cash Contribution (STR) of RM600 is false. Be careful and don’t be easily fooled by this kind of news on Telegram. Don’t share if you’re not sure.

STR Phase 3 was channeled last June 26. To ensure that the STR 3 program is targeted at those who are eligible, the appeal application period will also be open from 3 to 31 July 2023. Applicants can submit relevant documents for review by the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (IRB).

[/su_note]

The MOF pointed out that STR Phase 3 was already fully disbursed as of June 26. However, they opened an appeal application period from 3 to 31 July, to ensure that all qualifying recipients have the opportunity to apply for this financial aid.

Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!

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Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Beware – KL Police To Conduct Massive Traffic Op In July 2023!

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Be warned – the KL police just announced it will conduct a massive traffic op throughout Kuala Lumpur for the month of July 2023!

Massive KL Police Traffic Op To Involve 1000 Officers!

On Tuesday, 28 June 2023, Kuala Lumpur Police Chief, Dato’ Mohd Shuhaily bin Mohd Zain officiated the launching ceremony of the KL police’s Kuala Lumpur Police Operation Respect for Road Laws together with Other Enforcement Agencies (Operasi Hormat Undang-undang Jalan Raya Polis Kuala Lumpur Bersama Agensi-agensi Penguatkuasaan Yang Lain).

This massive KL police operation will take place throughout Kuala Lumpur, for the entire month of July 2023. This operation will be conducted not just by the KL police, but also the Road Transport Department (JPJ), the KL city hall (DBKL), and the Environment Department (JAS).

Roughly 1000 police personnel and officers from other agencies will be involved in this operation, but they will focus on their respective jurisdictions:

This operation will involve about 1,000 officers and police personnel with the respective agencies focusing on the offences under their own jurisdiction.

KL Police Traffic Op In July 2023 To Focus On 7 Aspects

Together with partner agencies, the massive KL police traffic operation in July 2023 will involve checking on illegal parking, obstruction of traffic, running red lights, illegal number plates, illegal tinting, and offences committed by motorcyclists.

Enforcement officials will immediately issue summonses to motorists and pedestrians caught flouting traffic laws during this operation, which will involve seven separate operations to curb traffic offences:

Operation Illegal Parking (Op Parkir Haram)
Operation Traffic Obstruction (Op Halangan)
Operation Red Light (Op Lampu Merah)
Operation Number Plates (Op Numbor Pendaftaran)
Operation Dark Tinting (Op Cermin Gelap)
Operation Motorcycle (Op Motosikal)
Operation Education (Op Didik)

Police and enforcement officers will also take this opportunity to educate motorists and pedestrians on the dangers of not obeying traffic rules.

In addition to looking out for traffic offences, the KL police will also run background checks on motorists for outstanding arrest warrants and criminal records, and look for stolen vehicles.

While not involved in traffic offences, the KL Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department will also be on the lookout for drug-related offences during this operation.

Finally, the police will also take action against workshops that are conducting illegal modifications of vehicles.

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

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Malaysia hikes electricity tariff for top 1% of households!

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Malaysia just raised the electricity tariff for the top 1% of households, while slashing industrial power tariffs!

Malaysia Hikes Electricity Tariff For Top 1% Of Households

On Friday, 23 June 2023, the Malaysia Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change (NRECC) Ministry announced a hike in the electricity tariff for the top 1% of households for the second half of 2023.

From July to December 2023, household using more than 1,500 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity per month, will no longer enjoy the 2 sen/kWh rebate. In addition, they will incur a surcharge of 10 sen/kWh, resulting in a total increase of 12 sen/kWh.

What this effectively means is that all those high-consumption households will see a minimum increase of RM 187 or 25%. Approximately 83,000 households would be affected if they continue to use more than 1,500 kWh per month.

For the ICPT adjustments within the period of July to December 2023, the users who will be affected are domestic users who use more than 1,500-kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity and the majority of which live in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor and Penang.

Of course, those high-consumption households can avoid the surcharge by reducing their power consumption.

The remaining 99% of domestic users will be unaffected by this hike in electricity tariff. The government has allocated RM2.7 billion to continue their electricity subsidy.

Malaysia Reduces Electricity Surcharge For MV / HV Users!

Meanwhile, the electricity tariff surcharge for non-domestic medium-voltage (MV) and high-voltage (HV) users will be reduced from 20 sen/kWh to 17 kW/h for the months of July to December 2023.

This is based on normalising fuel costs – the electricity tariff surcharge is adjusted every six months under the ICPT mechanism to reflect changes in power generation costs in the preceding six months.

The electricity surcharge for non-domestic customers using low-voltage (LV) power, such as small and medium-industries (SMEs) will remain unchanged at 3.7 sen/kWh.

Finally, the government agreed to greatly lower the electricity surcharge on water and sewerage operators, from 20 sen/kWh to just 3.7 sen/kWh.

Category	Usage	Rebate	Surcharge
Domestic	Up to 1,500 kWh	2 sen/kWh (no change)
Domestic	Over 1,500 kWh		10 sen/kWh (+12 sen/kWh)
Commercial	Low Voltage		3.7 sen/kWh (no change)
Commercial	Medium Voltage High Voltage		17 sen/kWh (-3 sen/kWh)
Commercial	Water + Sewerage Operators		3.7 sen/kWh (-16.3 sen/kWh)

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Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Wedding Invitation Scam : Don’t Install APK File!

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Please watch out for the wedding invitation scam, and find out why you should NEVER install any APK file from strangers!

Find out what’s going on, and warn your family and friends!

Wedding Invitation Scam Gone Viral!

A new scam has gone viral on social media in Malaysia – the wedding invitation scam. In this scam, scammers contact their victims on WhatsApp, pretending to send them an APK file as a wedding invitation!

Here is the Malay version of the scam messages, and their English translations.

Dengan rasa kesyukuran, Menjemput Tuan ZAITON OTHMAN Ke Majlis Perkawinan Anak Kami
Sila Klik instal Apk untuk dapatkan kad kahwin digital kami ⬇️⬇️
Sila klik instal nampak kad kahwin digital kami 🙏, agar nak tau Siapa 😀

With gratitude, Inviting Mr. Zaiton Othman to our Son’s Wedding
Please click install Apk to get our digital wedding card ⬇️⬇️
Please click install to see our digital wedding card 🙏, to know who this is 😀

Recommended : How To Block Facebook Ads + Pay Scammers!

Wedding Invitation Scam : Don’t Install APK File!

This is yet another example of a Mobile Application Scam, and here are the reasons why…

Fact #1 : APK Is Android Installation File

First, it is important to know that APK files are not used to deliver wedding invitations, or photos and videos.

Short for Android Package Kit, an APK file is used to install software in Android devices. Think of it as the Android equivalent of an EXE installation file for Windows software.

Fact #2 : You Should Never Install APK File, Unless You’re An Expert

APK files, by definition, are merely installation files for Android devices. They can be used for legitimate purposes, as well as nefarious purposes.

However, legitimate Android apps are mostly delivered through proper mobile app platforms like Google Play Store and the HUAWEI App Gallery, where they are often scanned for malware before people are allowed to download and install.

Therefore, you should never download and install an APK file outside of legitimate mobile app platforms, unless you are an expert who needs to “sideload” an APK for a specific reason.

Now, this does not mean that only Android devices are vulnerable. Apple is slated to offer the ability to sideload apps too with iOS 17.

Fact #3 : Scammers Use APK Files To Install Malware

In most, if not all, cases where you receive an APK file from a stranger on WhatsApp, Telegram, through email or social media platforms, it is likely to contain malware.

Scammers use APK files containing malware to gain access to your phone. After you install these malware APK files, scammers can do anything – read your messages, steal your photos and videos, gain access to your TAC / OTP alerts, etc.

Fact #4 : APK File Scam Not Limited To Wedding Invitations

These mobile application scams are not just limited to wedding invitations, or offers to deliver illicit photos and videos. Scammers have also convinced their victims to install these APK malware files to :

book cheap temporary maid / cleaning services
book cheap air-conditioning services
book exclusive restaurants
receive special discounts
make investment transactions

Fact #5 : Scammers Use Social Engineering + Stolen Data

It is important to remember that scammers will use a combination of social engineering and stolen / purchased data to convince you to install their APK malware.

They may know your name, your MyKad number, your address and your telephone number. They may even know who is in your family, and even have your bank account or credit card details. All that information can be purchased from unscrupulous sources.

In some cases, scammers have taken over social media accounts and used them to trick the account holder’s family and friends into installing such APK malware files.

No matter who tells you to do it – even if they are your family member or friend, NEVER download and install an APK file.

Fact #6 : Bank Negara Malaysia Warned About Mobile App Scam

Bank Negara Malaysia has long warned consumers about such mobile application scams.

Be wary of clickable hyperlinks that redirects you to a site, or downloads an application to your phone. Banks will no longer send you any clickable hyperlinks via SMS!

Only download applications from your smartphone’s official application platforms (e.g. Google Play Store, [Apple] App Store, Huawei App Gallery).

Fact #7 : PDRM Confirmed This Is A Scam

On Monday, 19 June 2023, PDRM Commercial Crimes Investigation Department (CCID) Director Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf warned the public about this wedding invitation scam:

This new tactic asks for an individual to open the link prepared to receive the wedding invitation. However, that’s the trick to steal information from the public and to make online transfer. The public are advised to avoid getting caught up in any message from questionable sources.

Please help us FIGHT SCAMMERS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!

Please Support My Work!

Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp

Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Jomo Kwame Sundaram Stock Advice Scam Alert!

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WATCH OUT for scammers pretending to be Jomo Kwame Sundaram offering stock advice on Facebook!

Find out what’s going on, and warn your family and friends!

Jomo Kwame Sundaram Stock Advice Scam Alert!

Scammers are running Facebook advertisements that claim that famed Malaysian economist, Jomo Kwame Sundaram, is created a WhatsApp group offering free stock investment advice!

I am Jomo Kwame Sundaram
A prominent Malaysian economist.
On June 14th, I said in the stock exchange group:
There have been abnormal transactions in the Southeast Asian stock market in the past two days
Indonesian stock market soars on the 15th, with huge volatility
Now the local exchange has access to supervise the stock movement
Next, Malaysia’s stock market will also experience abnormal fluctuations
Please pay attention to: ADVCON, KPSCE, ICON, MBL these stocks
Related stock abnormal information, I will continue to send in the group
If you haven’t joined the stock exchange group
Please join in time, I will share the stock information I have for free
Master stock information and avoid losing money in the stock market

I am Jomo Kwame Sundaram
A prominent Malaysian economist.
This is my one and only page on Facebook
As of May 2023, there will be an outflow of RM2.39 billion from the Malaysian stock market
This is the result of a large amount of foreign funds manipulating the Malaysian stock market
Since the collapse of the three largest U.S. banks in March,
About $76 billion has been withdrawn from U.S. stocks into stock markets around the world
If you do not grasp the stock inside information in time
Investing in the stock market can make you lose money
I created a stock exchange group
Share the insider information about the stock market that I can grasp for free
Hope these stock information can help you

Show less

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Jomo Kwame Sundaram Stock Advice Scam : What You Need To Know!

These Jomo Kwame Sundaram stock investment scams are being promoted heavily on Facebook in 2023, so please alert your family and friends!

Fact #1 : Jomo Kwame Sundaram Reported These Fake Ads

These fake Jomo Kwame Sundaram stock advice advertisements have been promoted on Facebook for several months now. On April 15, 2023, Jomo himself posted about this scam:

*Warning Letter from Jomo Kwame Sundaram*

I regret to inform you that someone is impersonating me. They have established an official website in my name, with many old photographs and other material to give this impression.

I am presented as an education and investment consultant, neither of which is true. There is even a contact telephone number for my supposed assistant.

I have reported the impersonation to Facebook and MCMC with no indication of any action so far. This happened several years ago as well when there was an earlier effort of this type.

I have never given investment advice, and have no intention whatsoever of doing so. It is highly irresponsible for anyone to claim they know the future. Whatever I do on economic and other matters is free for the public, and I urge you not to pay money to anyone who claims to be advising you in my name.

As I have been giving lectures in Tsinghua University in the past week, when this problem began, I did not realize how quickly the problem was growing and failed to act more promptly.

Please warn your friends and loved ones.

Thank you for your cooperation.

jomo

Unfortunately, as many people have discovered, Meta / Facebook does not appear to care about these fake ads. You can report them till kingdom come, but they will just keep running on Facebook as long as these scammers pay for them!

Fact #2 : Jomo Kwame Sundaram Is A Renown Economist

Jomo Kwame Sundaram is a world-renown economist, who writes extensively on economic policies. However, as he explained above, he is not an investment consultant!

He has better things to do than to offer you free stock investment advice! In May 7, he just published an article called “Inflation phobia, myths and dogma exacerbate policy responses” in the Review of Keynesian Economics.

Fact #3 : One Victim Lost RM480K To Investment Scam!

In November 2022, a 60 year-old housewife from Port Dickson fell for a similar investment scam, and lost almost RM480,000 (about US$104,000).

After being offered the free book on Facebook, she was asked to join a WhatsApp group called Family Discussion, where she was asked to convinced to “invest”.

That was when the lady realised she had been scammed, and lodged a police report.

Please help us FIGHT SCAMMERS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!

Please Support My Work!

Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp

Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Bursa Malaysia Stock Investment Scam Alert!

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Warning – both Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift and Bursa Malaysia are NOT giving out free stock investment advice or books!

Find out what’s going on, and warn your family and friends!

Bursa Malaysia Stock Investment Scam Alert!

Scammers are running Facebook advertisements that claim that Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift and/or Bursa Malaysia are giving free investment advice, or free books on stock investing!

Hi everyone, I am Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift
The Chief Executive Officer of Bursa Malaysia Bhd.
Since 2023, the Malaysian stock market has been relatively sluggish🤕🤕🤕
This may be because many stock market investors do not understand stock market trading
I have been blindly following the investment, resulting in a lot of losses
I have also received many letters from investors recently:
Ask if I have improved my trading skills?
Here I recommend a few stock books to everyone!
This can effectively improve your trading skills 💖💖💖
I also prepared 2,000 stock books for everyone📖📖📖
Free gift to Malaysian stock market investors, yes, it’s free!
Please add my assistant’s wapp, she will mail you books for free👇👇👇

I am Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift
The Chief Executive Officer of Bursa Malaysia Bhd.
In the past 3 months, I have received many letters from stock market investors
They mainly explained the following issues:
1. Want to learn stock market investment, but don’t know where to start? Including opening an account and understanding stock market information, etc.!
2. Veteran investors have certain technical experience, but cannot grasp real-time information, and often miss the best buying or selling points?
3. For retail investors, if you can’t find a team to keep warm, you will never get the first wave of stock market dividends!
4. Novice stockholders want to sign up to learn stock diagnosis techniques. There are so many analysts in Malaysia. I don’t know what to choose?
5. Many stockholders are locked up after entering the market. Do you know how to get out?
6. The global epidemic is over and the economy is recovering. How will the stock market go in the second half of this year?
The above questions are the feedback from our Malaysian stock market investors.
I will create a Malaysian stock market investor exchange group
Answer questions about the stock market online for free in the next 3 days
If you also encounter the above problems, please join my classroom study 👇👇👇

Show less

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Bursa Malaysia Investment Scam : What You Need To Know!

These Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift and/or Bursa Malaysia free book / investment group scams are being promoted heavily on Facebook in 2023, so please alert your family and friends!

Fact #1 : Bursa Malaysia Reported These Ads As Fake

Bursa Malaysia is aware of these fake advertisements on Facebook, posting this scam alert on May 17, 2023:

[SCAM ALERT] Don’t be fooled by Facebook ads or pages that offer stock advice. Scammers are known to impersonate Bursa Malaysia representatives to lure you into their fake investment schemes. If you have come across ads or pages like this, be sure to report it to Bursa2U along with a screenshot and source link at bursa2u@bursamalaysia.com or call Bursa Malaysia’s Help Centre at +603-2732 0067. Remember to check the Securities Commission Investor Alert List at http://sc.com.my/investor-alert before investing. Contact the National Scam Response Centre hotline 997 if you have been a victim of scam.

[AMARAN SCAM] Jangan terpedaya dengan iklan atau halaman Facebook yang menawarkan nasihat saham. “Scammer” seringkali menyamar sebagai wakil Bursa Malaysia untuk memujuk anda ke dalam skim pelaburan palsu mereka. Jika anda menjumpai iklan atau halaman seperti ini, pastikan anda melaporkannya kepada Bursa2U berserta tangkapan skrin dan sumber pautan ke bursa2u@bursamalaysia.com atau hubungi Pusat Khidmat Bursa Malaysia di talian +603-2732 0067 . Semak Senarai Amaran Pelabur Suruhanjaya Sekuriti di http://sc.com.my/investor-alert sebelum melabur. Hubungi talian hotline Pusat Respons Scam Kebangsaan 997 jika anda menjadi mangsa penipuan.

#StayAlert #ScamAlert #TakNakScam #JanganKenaScam

Fact #2 : Bursa Malaysia Is Not A Charity

Please do NOT be naive. Bursa Malaysia is not only the stock exchange of Malaysia, it is also a public listed company, whose focus is to make money, not a charity to give you free books or advice!

Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift is not only the CEO of Bursa Malaysia Berhad, he is also the director of its subsidiary companies. He certainly has more important (and profitable) things to do than to create a WhatsApp group to answer YOUR questions or advice YOU on what stocks to buy!

Fact #3 : Bursa Malaysia Does Not Use WhatsApp To Communicate

Bursa Malaysia offers a multitude of contact options by snail mail, online forms on their Bursa2U portal, email or telephone.

What it does not have is a WhatsApp account. So when scammers message you to collect your “free books” using WhatsApp, or ask you to join the Bursa Malaysia WhatsApp group, be warned!

Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift (fake) : I’m sorry because too many people have privately messaged me, please click to add administrator 👇whatsapp👇, send “PM” to join our company’s free communication group! https://wa.me/6019527xxxx

The real Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift, and Bursa Malaysia, will never ask you to join a WhatsApp group for any reason, whether it’s for investment advice, stock tips, or to buy and sell stocks, etc.

Fact #4 : One Victim Lost RM480K To Investment Scam!

In November 2022, a 60 year-old housewife from Port Dickson fell for a similar “free book” scam, and lost almost RM480,000.

After being offered the free book on Facebook, she was asked to join a WhatsApp group called Family Discussion, where she was asked to convinced to “invest”.

That was when the lady realised she had been scammed, and lodged a police report.

Please help us FIGHT SCAMMERS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!

Please Support My Work!

Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp

Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Maybank ATM Card: How to disable Debit Card feature!

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Find out how to disable the Debit Card feature of your Maybank ATM card, and why you should do that right away!

Maybank ATM Card Is Also Visa payWave Debit Card

Many Maybank customers may not know this, but your ATM card is not just an ATM card – it doubles as a Visa payWave debit card as well.

Since Maybank introduced its first combined ATM + Visa Debit card in March 2008, it has progressively migrated all existing ATM cards to the new combined card.

Today, all Maybank ATM cards are effectively Visa payWave debit cards, even though we may not have applied for the debit card or payWave functions.

Maybank ATM Card : Why You Should Disable Debit Card Feature!

Banks are promoting the use of debit cards, because they charge an interchange fee for every debit card transaction. That is why banks are “forcing” these combined ATM + debit card onto customers.

However, debit cards only offer minimal fraud protection (if at all), as payments are considered to be directly withdrawn from your bank account. That is why personal finance experts always recommend using a credit card, instead of a debit card.

Even worse, these debit cards often include contactless payment technologies like Visa payWave or Mastercard contactless. This allows anyone to directly withdraw money from your account without even requiring the PIN number!

Transaction Amount	Required Action
Above RM250	Tap and use PIN to approve
RM250 and below	Just tap. No PIN required.

Now, to be clear, the debit card and payWave feature will only be enabled after you perform at least one (1) successful PIN transaction at any point-of-sales terminal. But once that is done – both debit card and payWave features will remain activated.

This is one of the many reasons why money-savvy people do not use debit cards at all. It’s not only much safer to use credit cards, they also help build your credit rating and some benefits like cash back rebates, points, etc. There literally isn’t any benefit to using debit cards.

Unfortunately, many banks aren’t giving you the option of opting out. You may not want one, but you may not have a choice. The Maybank ATM card, for example, is a Visa payWave debit card which you cannot opt-out of. You cannot ask for a pure ATM card, and neither will Maybank disable the debit card or payWave features. I know. I asked.

Maybank ATM Card : How To Disable Debit Card + payWave!

To be clear – there is no way to actually disable the debit card or payWave functionality of your Maybank ATM card. But you can effectively disable both features by setting the debit card purchase limit to zero.

In this guide, I will show you how to do that using your Maybank2U online account, or at the Maybank ATM.

Maybank2U Online Account

Step 1 : Log into your Maybank2U account

Step 2 : On the right corner of the Maybank2U screen, click on the Settings option.

Step 3 : Click on the Cards tab, and it should show you the Manage Debit Cards section by default.

As you can see, by default, the Maybank ATM-debit card has a purchase limit of RM1,000 per transaction.

Step 4 : Click on the Edit icon, and you will be able to change the Purchase Limit, from RM0 all the way to RM10,000.

Step 5 : Select RM0.00 from the drop-down list, and the click the SAVE button.

Step 6 : Look for this yellow banner at the bottom of the screen, and click the REQUEST button to request the 6-digit SMS TAC on your registered mobile number.

Step 7 : Once you receive the 6-digit SMS TAC, key it into the box, and click on the CONFIRM button.

If you keyed in the correct SMS TAC, you should see this notice telling you that your new purchase limit has been set.

Now that you have successfully reduced your Purchase Limit to RM0.00, it doesn’t matter that Maybank refuses to disable the debit card or payWave function. They both just won’t be able to transfer any money from your account!

Maybank2U Online Account

Step 1 : Insert your ATM card and key in your PIN number.

Step 2 : Select Other Transaction in the main menu.

Step 3 : Select the Change Limit / Language / Maybank One option.

Step 4 : Select the Purchase Limit option.

Step 5 : Select No Purchase to prevent the card from being used to make any purchases.

Alternatively, you can select Preferred Limit. Then you need to key in RM 0.00, and then select Yes to confirm that decision.

After you set No Purchase or a Preferred Limit of RM0.00, the debit card and payWave functionality of your Maybank ATM card is effectively disabled.

Please Support My Work!

Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp

Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Sunway + Jeffrey Cheah Free Books Scam Alert!

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Please note – Jeffrey Cheah and the Sunway Group are not giving away free books on stock investing, to help new investors!

Find out what’s going on, and warn your family and friends!

Sunway + Jeffrey Cheah Free Books Scam Alert!

Scammers are running Facebook advertisements that claim that Tan Sri Dr Jeffrey Cheah and/or the Sunway Group are giving away free books on stock investing, to help new investors!

Hello everyone, I am Jeffrey Cheah, Chairman and Founder of Sunway Group
Since 2023, the Malaysian stock market has been relatively sluggish🤕🤕🤕
This may be because many stock market investors do not understand stock market trading
I have been blindly following the investment, resulting in a lot of losses
I have also received many letters from investors recently:
Ask if I have improved my trading skills?
Here I recommend a few stock books to everyone!
This can effectively improve your trading skills 💖💖💖
I also prepared 2,000 stock books for everyone📖📖📖
Free gift to Malaysian stock market investors, yes, it’s free!
Please add my assistant’s wapp, she will mail you books for free👇👇👇

Investors, we have an exciting surprise for you! 🎁🎁
Sunway Group is launching a thrilling event to make your investment journey even more exciting – Stock & Book Bonanza!
Whether you are a novice or an experienced investment guru, we believe that knowledge is the key to your success. Therefore, we have carefully selected a series of captivating best-selling books on stocks. These books will serve as your guide on your investment path and open wider doors to wealth for you!
Sunway Group has prepared 1000 stock book sets (1000 books) 📚📖📖
We are offering them as a free gift to our dedicated investors.
Please click on the session and add the assistant’s wapp to send your address.
We will ship the stock books to the address you provide free of charge.
Quantities are limited, so it’s first-come, first-served! Don’t wait until the last moment to regret missing this opportunity!

Show less

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Sunway / Jeffrey Cheah Free Books Scam : What You Need To Know!

This Sunway / Jeffrey Cheah free book scam is being promoted heavily on Facebook in May and June 2023, so please alert your family and friend!

Fact #1 : Sunway Group Reported These Pages / Ads As Fake

The Sunway Group is aware of these fake advertisements being run by scam Facebook pages, posting this scam alert:

SCAM ALERT

Please be alert of several scams using fake Facebook accounts, bearing the names “Sunway Investment” and “Sunway Global Investment”, claiming to be affiliated with Sunway entities.

These Facebook accounts have NO association with Sunway Group nor that of our chairman.

We urge all to be cautious and to not fall victim to these scams, and report these fake accounts to Facebook immediately.

Fact #2 : Sunway Group Is A Business, Not A Charity

Please do NOT be naive. The Sunway Group (Sunway Berhad) is a public listed company, whose focus is to make money, not a charity to give you free books!

Fact #3 : Giveaways Were Not Posted In Official Website / FB Page

If the Sunway Group was really giving away free books, it would have posted the offer on:

its official website (Sunway.com.my), or
its official Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/SunwayGroupOfficial/)

These scams are being run off fake Facebook pages that are brand new, and have nothing to do with Tan Sri Dr. Jeffrey Cheah, or the real Sunway Group.

Fact #4 : Sunway Group Does Not Use WhatsApp To Communicate

The Sunway Group offers a multitude of contact options by online forms, email or telephone number. What it does not have is a WhatsApp account. So when scammers message you to collect your “free books” by messaging a WhatsApp number, be warned!

Please add my WhatsApp message, send me your mailing information, and I will mail you stock books for you for free! My WhatsApp: https://xxxx.xx/60113906928

The Sunway Group will also not ask you to join a WhatsApp group for any reason, whether it’s for investment advice, stock tips, or to buy and sell stocks, etc.

Fact #5 : Scammers Will Try To Scare You

Scammers will try to scare you into contacting them, by telling you that stock is running out. Just ignore them!

There are only 3 free places left, which have been reserved for you, please add and leave a message as soon as possible Whatsapp : https://xxxx.xx/60113906928

Recommended : How To Block Facebook Ads + Pay Scammers!

Fact #6 : One Victim Lost RM480K To A Free Book Scam!

In November 2022, a 60 year-old housewife from Port Dickson fell for a similar “free book” scam, and lost almost RM480,000.

After being offered the free book on Facebook, she was asked to join a WhatsApp group called Family Discussion, where she was asked to convinced to “invest”.

That was when the lady realised she had been scammed, and lodged a police report.

Please help us FIGHT SCAMMERS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!

Please Support My Work!

Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp

Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

Recommended Reading

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Scam Alert : How Fake Job Syndicates Operate!

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Find out how fake job syndicates operate, and how they reel you into their scams, and cheat YOU of your hard-earned money!

Make sure you SHARE this article, to warn your family and friends to avoid the fake job scams!

Fake Job Scams : What Are They?

Fake job scams have been around for a long, long time. But fake job syndicates have become more active recently, probably because more people are getting laid off, and inflation is eating into our money.

Fake job scams come in a variety of ways, but most commonly, you get unsolicited messages through WhatsApp or iMessage, offering you the opportunity to make a lot of money through part-time work, in the comfort of your own home.

Good day YouTubers!! This is Alexa from Youtube Entertainment. We invite you to participate in our event by liking and subscribing to our channel and we will give you XXX. Please reply “YES” if you are interested. Thank you.

Hi, I’m the recruitment manager of XYZ company. XYZ invites you to do regular work at home.

You can easily earn [large amounts of money] with your mobile phone every day, and your salary will be settled on the same day.

Please add my WhatsApp to sign up. The number of places is limited, only for today.

Hey! You have been selected for a job. Daily salary XXXX to YYYYY. WhatsApp [number removed]. Reply YES to apply.

Recommended : How To Block Facebook Ads + Pay Scammers!

Scam Alert : How Fake Job Syndicates Operate!

I personally have received many of such fake job offers, and have always ignored them. But when I saw a sudden surge of fake job offers, I decided to look into it. I also wanted to find out how they worked.

So I took a dive into two different fake job scams last week, and here was what I found…

How They Reel Their Victims In

It all starts with scammers tasked with “fishing” for victims. They will try to contact you by email, Facebook Messenger, SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, or iMessage. Regardless of the method, the hook is simple – we are offering you an EASY way to make A LOT of money!

Once you are suitably impressed, these “fishing” scammers will offer you a simple task to show you just how easy it is to make a lot of money. To entice me, the two scammers offered me a pretty good sum of money for a very simple task:

Syndicate A : Subscribe to this YouTube channel, and send me the screenshot to receive XXXX.

Syndicate B : Like this YouTube video, and send me the screenshot to receive YYYY.

Recommended : Watch Out For Telegram Phishing Attack!

The Fishing Scammer Hands You Over To The Syndicate

After you complete that task, the fishing scammer then hands you off to the actual fake job syndicate, ostensibly for payment. You are asked to contact the company secretary / account manager on Telegram, with a “payment code”.

From what I surmise, the “payment code” is actually the fishing scammer’s referral code – they get paid for every victim they send the syndicate.

This will be your last contact with these fishing scammers. They are off to reel in more victims!

Syndicate Baits You With Payment

The syndicate secretary / account manager will ask you to register your details with them, but they are not too particular with any details, except for your phone number. If you give them the fake number, they will know because they will check with the fishing scammer using their referral code. But feel free to give them other fake details – they won’t care.

The fake job syndicate will then send you the payment for that “test” job, using a mule account. If you ask them why they are sending you the money through a different company account or even a random person’s account, they will tell you that they have many bank accounts because of daily transaction limits.

Syndicate Baits You With Simple Tasks

The syndicate will then add you to their Telegram channel offering multiple tasks per day. Instead of YouTube channels or videos, you are tasked to very simple tasks like:

open a link to a product page on an online shopping platform
take a screenshot of that product page
post that screenshot to the Telegram group
share that screenshot with your syndicate agent

You will breeze through the first three tasks easily, and the fake job syndicate will pay you promptly.

Fantastic, isn’t it? What could go wrong? After all, there are hundreds of other people participating in the same tasks, and getting paid!

Syndicate Tempts You With Pay To Earn Scam

At this point, you have done some calculations, and realise that you can easily make good money every day doing these simple tasks.

That’s when the fake job syndicate offers you the opportunity to make some serious cash. But there’s one catch – you need to PAY them to get access to jobs with serious money.

For every dollar you prepay, the fake job syndicate promises that you will get that back PLUS 10% to 30%, within minutes. Just in case you are worried about losing your money, hey, they are offering a refund. Honest!

And how can they offer you so much money for so little work? The syndicate throws in the magic word – cryptocurrency! Of course! That’s the only way anyone can make tons of money easily, with both eyes closed!

Syndicate Pressurises You With Bots

To convince you that they are legit, you will see many people posting screenshots of their payments to the Telegram group. They will also publicly announce how much they are investing. In some cases, they also post excitedly about how much money they already made, and how much they plan to make today.

This is just a charade to make you believe that people are really making money through this scheme. Most of these “participants” appear to be bot accounts, with a few sock puppet accounts. If you monitor these accounts over time, you will see them change names. I even spotted one of these fake participants (mercado livre in the screenshot above) become the Telegram group admin!

The genuine victims are those asking questions in the group like “We have to prepay?” But oddly enough, no one else in the group (except the Telegram group admin) will respond. That’s not how real people behave.

And if you check their receipts, you will notice some discrepancies in their receipts, which suggest that they were edited:

transfers within the same bank were labelled as transfers “to other banks”.
account numbers are too short / long for that particular bank

The others are possibly genuine receipts (by people who were scammed earlier), with their dates and times changed.

Once You Pay, It’s Game Over

I managed to get in touch with two victims of this scam, who claimed that once they deposited the prepaid amount, they were ghosted and removed from the Telegram group.

So that appears to be the scam – they bait you with a bit of money, until you are convinced that they are real. Then once you prepay them for the “big job”, they dump you right away.

Your assigned syndicate agent will block you, and you will get kicked off the Telegram group, which often disappears after scamming a few victims. Often, you will find your Telegram conversations with them mysteriously deleted. By then, it’s much too late – you have already lost your money.

To ensure they don’t lose money, they will price the introductory offer low enough to entice victims, but high enough to cover their costs and then some. But they will inevitably score some big fish, which is why the fake job scam persists.

Now that you know how the fake job scam works, please DO NOT get trapped into it! NEVER pay to get a job. It is just a scam!

Please SHARE this article out, and WARN your family and friends!

Please Support My Work!

Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp

Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Watch Out For Kenanga Free Books Scam!

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Is the Kenanga Investment Bank giving away free books on stock investing, to celebrate its 50th anniversary?!

Find out what’s going on, and warn your family and friends!

Watch Out For Kenanga Free Books Scam!

Scammers are running Facebook advertisements that claim Kenanga Investment Bank is giving away free books on stock investing, to celebrate its 50th anniversary!

good news 🎉 good news 🎉 good news 🎉
Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad,
Now it is the largest independent investment bank in Malaysia Established in 1973, it is about to celebrate its 50th anniversary 🎉🎉🎉
Kenanga Group will give away 2,000 stock books for free If you are interested in the stock book, you can get it for free Please click on the messenger to get the book for free 📖📖📖
The number of books is limited, and the activity will stop after the gift is completed 👇👇👇

Hi everyone, this is Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad
Now it is the largest independent investment bank in Malaysia
Established in 1973, it is about to celebrate its 50th anniversary 🎉🎉🎉
During these 50 years, we have helped countless stock investors make profits in the stock market
In order to thank investors for their support all the way, 💝💝💝🎊🎊🎊
We will give out the first gift for stock market investors 🎁🎁🎁
Kenang Group has prepared 5000 stock books (1000 sets) 📚📖📖
Free gift to investors who support Kenang Group all the way
Please click on the session, add the assistant’s wapp, and register the mailing address
We will mail the book to your registered address for free
The number of stock books is limited, while supplies last 💝💝💝

Recommended : TNG RFID Bar Code Scanning Scam Debunked!

Kenanga Free Books Scam : What You Need To Know!

This Kenanga free book scam is being promoted heavily on Facebook in May 2023, so please alert your family and friends!

Fact #1 : Kenanga Reported These Pages / Ads As Fake

Kenanga is aware of these fake advertisements being run by scam Facebook pages, posting this scam alert on May 12, 2023:

Once again we would like to remind our clients and the public to be careful of scammers impersonating our brand to provide fraudulent product and services.

We are not offering any free books/e-books or make anyone join a WhatsApp group.

If you received any of this communication recently, stop responding and report the page/numbers immediately.

If you have been scammed, contact the National Scam Response Centre hotline 997.

Fact #2 : Kenanga Is A Business, Not A Charity

Please do NOT be naive. Kenanga is an investment bank – a business, not a charity. Just because it is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2023, does not mean it’s giving anything away.

Even if it wanted to celebrate its anniversary by giving away books, it would be giving them to clients, not to the public!

Kenanga is a public-listed company, whose focus is to make money, not a charity to give you free books!

Fact #3 : Giveaways Were Not Posted In Official Website / FB Page

If Kenanga was really giving away free books, it would have posted the offer on:

its official website (Kenanga.com.my), or
its official Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/KenangaGroup/)

These scams are being run off fake Facebook pages that are brand new, and have nothing to do with the real Kenanga.

Fact #4 : Kenanga Does Not Use WhatsApp To Communicate

Kenanga offers a multitude of contact options by online forms, email or telephone number. What it does not have is a WhatsApp account. So when scammers message you to collect your “free books” by messaging a WhatsApp number, be warned!

Please add my WhatsApp message, send me your mailing information, and I will mail you stock books for you for free! My WhatsApp: https://xxxx.xx/60113906928

Fact #5 : Kenanga Will Not Ask You To Join WhatsApp Groups

Just to be clear, Kenanga states that it will never ask anyone to join a WhatsApp group for any reason, whether it’s for investment advice, stock tips, or to buy and sell stocks, etc.

Recommended : How To Block Facebook Ads + Pay Scammers!

Fact #6 : Scammers Will Try To Scare You

Scammers will try to scare you into contacting them, by telling you that stock is running out. Just ignore them!

There are only 3 free places left, which have been reserved for you, please add and leave a message as soon as possible Whatsapp : https://xxxx.xx/60113906928

Fact #7 : One Victim Lost RM480K To A Free Book Scam!

In November 2022, a 60 year-old housewife from Port Dickson fell for a similar “free book” scam, and lost almost RM480,000.

After being offered the free book on Facebook, she was asked to join a WhatsApp group called Family Discussion, where she was asked to convinced to “invest”.

That was when the lady realised she had been scammed, and lodged a police report.

Please help us FIGHT SCAMMERS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!

Please Support My Work!

Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp

Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

Recommended Reading

Go Back To > Fact Check | Cybersecurity | Tech ARP

Support Tech ARP!

Please support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or donating to our fund. Thank you!