Most of us have a TM fixed line phone at home. And there is a 4-digit number that when dialed, will reveal the phone number of that particular line.

Pick up any TM fixed line phone, dial 1313 and wait a couple of seconds, you will hear one or a series of beeps, followed by your phone number in Bahasa Malaysia. If your phone number is 03-7877 3803, you will hear tujuh lapan tujuh tujuh tiga lapan kosong tiga.

Lourdes Charles
The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: Gullible Malaysians have lost a whopping RM35mil in the past seven months to an international syndicate in an elaborate SMS scam.

Police learnt of the huge losses after 163 cases were reported since January.

Forty people were detained recently in connection with the syndicate, based in Taiwan and Hong Kong, which has been operating here since 2006.

“We believe the syndicate members raked in about RM5mil a month just by sending out SMSes to the Malaysian public, claiming that they had won a lucky draw.

“Our investigations revealed that the syndicate either used a local or Hong Kong cellphone number,” Federal Commercial Crimes Investigations director Comm Datuk Ramli Yusof told The Star.

He said the syndicate had devised at least seven types of SMS scams.

It is learnt the syndicate in Taiwan had raked in an estimated $280mil Taiwanese dollars (RM29.7mil) in the past few years.

At least 19 Taiwanese suspects had been detained in the past few weeks in Xiamen and Fujian provinces in China.

The syndicate’s modus operandi is to send out SMS in Chinese to selected cellphone numbers informing the victims that they have won a lucky draw. They are to contact the number to collect their winnings, usually nothing less than RM100,000.

The message is normally accompanied by two cellphone numbers – a local and a Hong Kong number.

In order for the victims to collect their prize, they must first pay a fee – being legal, insurance and membership expenses.

Some of the SMS scams are:

·VICTIM receives a call that he or she has won a lucky draw by an electrical company based in Hong Kong and that he/she needs to pay a 5% tax to retrieve the goods worth an estimated RM100,000;

·VICTIM receives a call from a Mandarin-speaking person saying that he/she has won a lucky draw contest and to contact the phone numbers given to collect the winnings. But he/she must pay a transfer fee to be deposited into an account. After depositing the money, the victim will be asked to contact another party to collect the prize. When the victim contacts the other party, he/she is asked to pay other charges; and,

·VICTIM receives a call from a person claiming to be a court official. He says the victim has failed to attend a court hearing. This will be followed by another call from a man claiming to be from Bukit Aman. The second caller informs the victim that he/she is involved in a criminal case and has to deposit a certain sum of money or his/her bank account will be frozen.

The Star

PETALING JAYA: Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will undergo coronary bypass surgery at the National Heart Institute (IJN) tomorrow morning.

His son, Datuk Mokhzani Mahathir confirmed that Dr Mahathir had been admitted into IJN yesterday for the surgery.

“He is all right and preparing for the operation. He wanted to wait until after the Merdeka celebrations,” he said when contacted yesterday.

Dr Mahathir’s most recent public appearance was during the Merdeka Day Parade at Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur, with his wife Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali where he was seen waving the Jalur Gemilang to the beat of the music.

Mokhzani said Dr Siti Hasmah was with his father at the hospital. IJN is expected to release a statement on Dr Mahathir today.

No visitors are allowed.

“We ask that all Malaysians pray for his good health,” Mokhzani added.

Dr Mahathir underwent a coronary bypass operation in 1989 at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital following a heart attack.