JOHOR BARU: A total of 39 cases of people duped into "lending" money to people posing as friends were reported to the police since the beginning of this year.

       Johor police commercial crime chief Asst Comm Amran Md Jusin said that the scammers would contact their victims through Telegram and pretend to be someone they know before asking for money.

       "They will hack into a person's Telegram account and look into their contact list as well as use their profile photo.

       "They will then contact the numbers in the contact list and borrow money by pretending to be the victim.

       "The victim would only realise what happened when they could not access their Telegram or when people they knew called them about the money," he said in a statement here on Saturday (April 30).

       He added that some 39 cases involving losses amounting to RM259,450 have been recorded between January and April 27.

       "During the same period last year, some 75 cases involving RM462,368 in losses were recorded.

       "Although there is a downward trend, such incidents still continue to happen and are causing victims significant losses," he said.

       He told the public to be careful and not trust those asking for money through messaging applications, including people they know.

       "Call the person asking for the money through a number that you usually use to ask if it was really them contacting you.

       "We also advise the public to activate the two-step verification security pin for their Telegram account for extra security," he said.

       ACP Amran also told the public to use the online services provided by the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) such as 'Semak Mule', CCID Scam Response Centre, CCID hotline and its Facebook page to receive information concerning scams and other commercial crimes.