Predators on the Net
New Straits Times (18 Feb 2013)

Online love scams are growing. Heed the advice of Cybersecurity Malaysia.

WOULD you go on a date with a girl or a guy you met online?

We posed this question on our facebook page (www.facebook.com/technst) for two weeks and received interesting responses: 52 per cent said "No"; 37 per cent said "Yes" while 11 per cent said "Maybe".

A rather interesting feedback considering the growing number of incidents related to love found online, says Cybersecurity Malaysia.

"There is a growing number of scams. Based on our records, we have been receiving reports on such scams since 2010. From our analysis, love found online will normally lead to parcel scams, cyber harassment and threats. The love scam does not only affect women, men also fall prey, and they range from the young to the old," says CEO Dr Amirudin Abdul Wahab.

Cybersecurity Malaysia advises that users be careful when befriending someone and to always adhere to the best practices while on the Internet. They must immediately communicate with relevant authorities when they encounter such activities on the Internet.

Based on the data gathered via its hotline Cyber999, perpetrators in these love scams are mostly foreigners and the victims locals.

"There are also incidents involving foreign victims," says Amirudin.

How do these criminals operate? Amirudin says scammers normally target social networking sites and dating sites.

"They will set up fake profiles on the sites using photographs of good looking people and portray themselves as caring and kind-hearted and looking for a partner. They start sending messages to potential victims, luring them with their photographs and nice words," he explains.

The scammers will then ask questions related to the victim to get as much information as possible. The information will then be used to manipulate the victims. "They use very nice words and psychology to lure and get hold of the victims," says Amirudin.

Apparently, there are many variations to this scam. In some cases, the scammer will say that he or she is coming to the victim's country to propose marriage but will later call the victim claiming to be detained by the local Customs or Immigration for some reason, and ask the victim to remit money for his/her release.

"In other cases, the scammer will say that he has sent a present or a parcel to the victim and request the victim to make payment to secure its release because it has been purportedly detained by the Customs. There are also instances where the scammer will say that he needs money to cover the expenses for the medical bill of his family and out of sympathy, the victim will wire money over.

"There have been cases where the scammer takes compromising photos or videos of the victim using webcams, with or without the victim's knowledge.

Report cyber security incidents to CyberSecurity Malaysia

Email: cyber999@cybersecurity.my
Call 1-300-88-2999 (during office hours) or +6019-2665 850 (24 hours)
SMS: Type , and send to 15888
Fax: +603 - 8945 3442
Online reporting:
Go to www.mycert.org.my
or www.cybersecurity.my
or www.cybersafe.my
or http://www.mycert.org.my/report_incidents/online_form.html