Malaysian Shares How A Scammer Threatened For A Ransom Because They "Kidnapped" Her Child
There were sounds of struggle, as well as crying and screaming, in the background of the call she received.
By Tamara Jayne — 21 Jun 2023, 10:33 AM
A Malaysian woman is warning others of a recent incident where someone tried to con her over the phone by saying that he has her child in custody
Marlene Zahari, who's based in KL, said that she received a WhatsApp call from a man yelling at her in Bahasa Melayu (BM) at 2pm on Wednesday, 14 June.
He claimed that he had her child and would kill him if she did not pay a ransom.
"Marlene!! Dengar sini, sekarang ni anak kamu ada dengan saya!! Kamu boleh dengar kan?!" (Marlene, listen here. I have your child with me! Do you understand?) he yelled over the phone.
According to Marlene, the scammer knew her name because of her WhatsApp profile, but did not provide any details like the gender or age of her child.
When she didn't respond to him, Marlene said that he continued to threaten her by claiming that his partner-in-crime would beat up her so-called child
"There were sounds of struggle and crying and screaming in the background," she added.
She said that the sounds were unclear and she was not able to make out her child's voice. However, she believes that scammers may soon modify their modus operandi to make things more believable.
Citing an example of how artificial intelligence (AI) is able to clone voices now, Marlene shared that "there is an ongoing court case in the US where a child's voice was cloned to extort money from her parents".
As he continued to scream threats at Marlene, she sent a text message to her eldest child
Fortunately, her son told her that he was still in school and had even seen his sister at lunch break.
Marlene said that she kept quiet on the phone and the scammer eventually got tired and hung up.
"Please be aware, everyone," she said, adding that these scammers could be targeting women and playing on their emotions
Speaking to SAYS, Marlene detailed that her friend's sister had also received a similar call a few days prior. This time, the scammers apparently referred to the woman by her full name, which nobody calls her by.
Marlene added that when she asked her friend's sister to check if her full name was written on her WhatsApp profile, she realised that it was, implying that the scammers were getting the information from there.
Another friend of Marlene's also told her that a colleague received a similar call the day before she did and has since made a police report.
