A Group Of Thieves Stole This Woman's iPhone At KLCC Then Scammed Her Afterwards

Writing to SAYS, Fizliyana Hilda Fahrurrazi told us about her harrowing experience when she lost her iPhone 6 smartphone to a syndicate while she was shopping at the Bath & Body Works outlet at the mall on 3 December at approximately 4.45pm.

While pickpocket cases in shopping malls may not be unusual, Fizliyana's account has revealed some rather elaborate details of how victims are not just losing their personal belongings such as their smartphones but they're also scammed into giving up their personal information to the unscrupulous criminals.

"It's not just a stolen phone case, few days after, victim are trapped in a syndicate where they surrendered their personal information to the thieves," she said.

"I noticed that there was a guy who was walking very closely to me and he kept looking at me. When I entered the store, he did not follow suit. I was astonished and had a bad feeling. That was when I checked through my handbag and my phone was gone!" she wrote.

Following the incident, she managed to obtain a CCTV recording from the mall operator.

Based on the footage, she claims that the theft was most likely carried out by three individuals who only took a few seconds to steal her phone.

"Just as I entered the store, the man who was obstructing my way earlier just stayed put. I stopped to have a look at the man since he was walking so closely to me a few seconds ago but suddenly he decided not to enter the store. "

She thinks that it should be at this time that the theft took place when all four of them were standing at the same spot, just before she entered the store.

It was noted that the guy who was blocking her way earlier had the audacity to stand at the front of the store as the couple left.

Fizliyana opined that the guy who was in front of her acted as a distraction while the couple stole her phone. The guy then stayed on to check if the coast was clear while the couple left.

Fizliyana was quick to respond to the situation. After she realised that her phone was stolen, she quickly called up her phone number but to no avail. It went straight to the voice mailbox.

She immediately used the 'Find My iPhone' application to locate her missing phone and activated the 'Lost Mode' to locate her device as well as to lock the phone so that no one else can access her personal information on the phone.

She waited for three long days, in hopes that the phone will be switched on so that the location of the phone can be detected.

Without thinking twice, she followed the link that was sent to her from the SMS and entered her Apple ID and password without realising that she was actually directed to a phishing site.

It is believed that the message was sent by the thieves and she had fallen for the scam.

Later, she realised that there were some obvious telltale signs which she had not noticed earlier due to her eagerness in retrieving her stolen phone.

She pointed out that the phone number which sent her the SMS originated from Indonesia, and that the url of the website was quite suspicious.

Using the password that was stolen from the phishing site, the thieves were able to unlock the phone and disable it from the 'Lost Mode', effectively dodging the tracking system and the phone was erased from the 'Find My Phone' feature.

Fearing that more personal information would be lost to the criminals, Fizliyana called up Apple Support Malaysia to seek for assistance.

She was told to change her password immediately. She breathed a sigh of relief when she was told that the Apple team did not detect any suspicious activities with her account other than the recent change of password which was done by her.

"After I changed my Apple ID's password, I received another message. This time I was smarter, I just ignored the message," she said, adding that the thieves may have sent the second message in order to obtain her new password.

Fizliyana learned that another Malaysian also fell for the same syndicate on that very same day when she did. It was the same modus operandi and the same sequence of events took place, from the theft to the message scam. The only difference was that theft took place at Pavilion Shopping Centre in Kuala Lumpur.

After a desktop research, she found out that Zara and Topshop are also "hotspots" for the thieves. The sales person and promoter also told h er that this is pretty normal and happens almost every week.

"It doesn't just happen to me but many actually became their victim!"

Fizliyana has lodged a police report over the matter as well as informed the Suria KLCC management to ask what are the steps taken to prevent or stop these incidents from happening at their malls, but she has yet to receive any feedback.

"As a Malaysian and individual, I am concerned about the safety and security especially women with young kids (who tend to be their main target)," she said.