Kelantan police have received 94 reports regarding online triangulation fraud involving buyers and legitimate sellers whose advertisements were used by scammers.
KOTA BHARU: Police have received 94 reports of triangulation fraud relating to the sales and purchase of online products as of Sept 15.
Kelantan police chief Datuk Mohd Yusoff Mamat said 75 reports involved buyers being victims while 19 involved sellers whose advertisements were used by criminals, with 66 investigation papers open and Tumpat with the highest number of reports at 35, followed by Kota Bharu with 22.
A triangulation fraud is when a criminal uses advertisement information of a real seller and deals with the buyer pretending to be the real seller.
“The buyer is then instructed to make payments according to the criminal, with the criminal taking the money while the buyer suffers losses and the real seller is dragged into an unknown transaction,” he said in a statement today, adding that the products used in such frauds included motorcycles, cars, four-wheel drive vehicles and mobile phones.
Investigations into the cases were ongoing, he said, and advised the public not to be hasty in making payments, especially when faced with very cheap offers.
Those who are scammed should also immediately contact the National Scam Response Centre at 997 and lodge a police report, he added.
