Scam using the cell phone!

There is a latest scam using the cell phone. A scam is to trick somebody to obtain money from somebody by dishonest means.

DO NOT LEND YOUR HANDPHONE TO STRANGERS.

These swindlers who will approach you are likely to be a female or an elderly person. They will tell you that they just got rob and need to call the police. Right in front of you, they will call 911 (the emergency numbers for the local police). They will speak loudly for you to hear that they are reporting a case but halfway through, they will pretend that the phone reception is poor and walk about 5 meters away from you with their back towards you.

All they need is 1 minutes and a tiny gadget that acts as a USB to copy your entire phone book contacts.

Then over the next few hours, they will SMS to all your contacts, pretending to be you (with your handset numbers appearing in your contact's phone). The SMS will say that you are now overseas, in trouble with the police, you cannot use your phone and that is why you are sending out SMS. You need help to transfer money to an account. Usually the amount they ask is within affordable range. Your phone will not be contactable for the few hours that they are busy sending out SMS. So your family and friends will believe you are in trouble.

The case below happened to a tourist and he reported to the local police a few days later when his friends finally manage to contact him and he learned that he was being duped. The police told him that this is an old trick that they use to target tourists and now they are moving to the locals.

To all readers, please do not lend your phone to ANYONE you do not know. If they really need help, send them to the nearest police station!