The Star, Tuesday August 14, 2012

Director nearly fleeced by hackers

CYBER crime is on the rise and the public must be vigilant when they receive e-mails asking them to bank money into some given account or receive messages via Facebook requesting a loan.

A furniture company director in Kajang, who only wanted to be identified as Cheong, said she only realised that her company’s account was hacked into when she was notified by one of her customers recently.

“My client received an e-mail stating that my company had problems with our bank account. My client was told to bank into another account soon or we would have to stop production.

Warning: Cheong hopes to spread the word about hackers who hack into company’s e-mail accounts and con customers into giving them money.

 

“Thankfully, we were able to stop the transaction in time. Besides the e-mail, our clients also received calls from a person claiming to be our employee, asking them to pay up fast,” she said.

The hacker also hacked into her company’s Facebook account, requesting loans from clients.

“When I checked the Facebook page, many chat windows popped up. The hackers were chatting with a few of my clients simultaneously,” Cheong said at a press conference at Kajang Municipal Council (MPKj) councillor Eddie Ng’s service centre.

Cheong has since put up a notice and e-mailed her clients, warning them about the scam.

She, however, did not call every one of them as there were too many.

Cheong said most of the business transactions were conducted via e-mails and that her customers did not suspect anything amiss.

She also lamented that she was made to run from pillar to post when she wanted to make a police report.

“I went to the Kajang IPD but was told to go to the branch in Bandar Teknologi Kajang as my company is situated there.

“I have also filed a report with the CyberSecurity Malaysia an agency under the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry but have yet to receive a reply,” she said.