By Teh Jen Lee

NAK DUIT (want money in Malay)?

In the latest twist to e-mail scams, fraudsters have started using Malay to make dubious promises of instant wealth.

Berita Harian reported yesterday that an employee of a tour company got an e-mail offering him a cut of US$15.5 million ($21.7m).

The one-page e-mail was written in Malay.

The employee, who is in his 40s and who declined to be named, got the e-mail last week.

He told Berita Harian: "I wanted to just delete the e-mail but I kept it for a while to share it with people so that they would not be taken in. Do these scammers think we're stupid"

"If this money is for real, why doesn't the person give it to his friends or relatives? Why offer it to a complete stranger? Now it's even written in Malay!"

He had heard of e-mail scams in English before but had never received one directly.

Bad grammar

The e-mail, which was full of grammatical errors typical of scams, was from a Donald Robinson.

There were also two e-mail addresses.

Donald claimed to be an auditor from a British finance company. While doing his audits, he claimed he found a multimillion-dollar floating fund, supposedly created by a foreigner who died in 1999.

He said his efforts to contact the account holder were unsuccessful.

Writing in Malay, he said: "I want to transfer the US$15.5million to an account outside of the country. I suggest that you secretly give me your account number or open a new account to receive the money.

"For your help in this, I am prepared to part with a good percentage of the entire sum. If we don't claim this money quickly, it will be changed to company funds, which would only profit my company's directors," said Donald.

To convince potential victims, he claimed the money could be transferred legally, complete with documentation.

"No one else knows about the deceased's account and no one else will know who receives the money. Nevertheless, you will be asked to show some proof of claim, which I will give and also instructions on how to make the application," he said.

While he asked for personal information including fax, phone and mobile numbers, he requested potential victims to keep the dealings a secret.

He did not give any of his personal details, a common characteristic of scam e-mails.

Donald's e-mail is reminiscent of similar scams which have fleeced millions of dollars from hundreds of victims each year.

Last year, 434 people lost about $7.6 million in all sorts of scams.(see report below) In the first six months of this year, 118 people lost $1.4 million in phone scams alone.

On the website of the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD), which comes under the police, the public is advised to ignore and delete e-mails that offer cash windfalls.

Senders of such e-mails often claim to have access to a large sum of unclaimed money from a rich person.

Such scams, which appear to originate from Africa, are from conmen claiming to be audit officers in regional banks.

Pay first, cry later

Their offers to transfer money to the victim's bank account is always accompanied by requests to transfer money to them first, on the pretext that it is used to pay an administration fee or tax for the funds transfer.

But after money is sent, the victim will stop hearing from the syndicate and be unable to contact them.

Mr Seah Seng Choon, executive director of Consumers Association of Singapore, told The New Paper: "Most of these scams are from overseas so it's almost impossible to get the money. We advise the public not to get involved and not to respond to such e-mails."

Which is exactly what the man who got this latest e-mail offer in Malay plans to do.

Especially when the sender even had the cheek to ask those who are interested to reply to him in English because "I am not used to communicating in Malay and my translations are not good enough".

Don't fall for these tricks

PHONE SCAMS

Kidnap scam

Victim receives calls about his loved ones being kidnapped and is asked to transfer money via a remittance agency or place the ransom at specific location for collection.

About $124,000 lost in 15 cases in first six months of this year

Court Scam

Victim is told he is involved in a court case. The caller claims to be a police officer or court employee and asks victim to transfer money to settle the case. Variations of this scam involve impersonation of a government or bank official.

About $206,000 lost in 14 cases in first six months of this year

Lottery scam

Victim receives notification of a lottery or lucky draw win via phone or SMS. He is asked to make payments to claim his winnings

About $1.1 million lost in 89 cases in first six months of this year

OTHER SCAMS

Dropped wallet scam

Culprit drops wallet near victim, after which his accomplice picks it up and offers to split the money with the victim.

Second culprit hands over the wallet to the victim for safekeeping in exchange for the victim's valuables as collateral, before making some excuse to leave for a while.

Culprit doesn't return, and victim discovers that wallet is empty or stuffed with tissue paper.

Within a week in July this year, two conmen successfully cheated victims out of cash, jewellery, and watches worth about $25,000.

Rental scam

Culprit rents a housing unit to a number of victims concurrently and asks for deposits up front as part of rental agreement. In some cases, culprit has no authority to rent out the unit.

In February, a 33-year-old man was charged with more than 50 cases of cheating committed between April 2008 and January this year.

He was alleged to have collected advance rental payments of up to six months and then became uncontactable. The total amount involved is believed to be more than $100,000.

jenlee@sph.com.sg

This article was first published in The New Paper.