IPOH: The Perak police chief himself has been an attempted target of an online scam syndicate.

       Comm Datuk Mior Faridalathrash Wahid said he received a call one recent Saturday from the “Inland Revenue Board”.

       “When I asked the caller since when the department worked on Saturdays, the person answered that they were open nowadays.

       “In fact, the caller even told me that they operated on Sundays as well,” he told a press conference after a dialogue session with representatives of banking institutions at the police air unit training base here on Thursday (April 21).

       Comm Mior Faridalathrash added that he said he knew they were scammers, and told them to repent before they hung up.

       He advised the public not to answer unknown calls, and even if they did answer, not to prolong the conversation.

       “No government agencies will call and ask all sorts of personal details at length.

       “For instance, even if the police call, they would ask you to come to a certain police station for an investigation,” he added.

       Comm Mior Faridalathrash added that to create awareness, the police in Perak have been giving talks at mosques on Fridays since January.

       He said this was done to ensure that those present for prayers would relay the message to their family and friends back home.

       “We are using this (approach) because the majority of victims in Perak are Malays, and so mosques are chosen,” he added.

       Comm Mior Faridalathrash also said police would be working with banks to create awareness campaigns via TikTok.

       “Most of the younger generation is into TikTok, and it will be a good way to create awareness on online scammers,” he added.