PUTRAJAYA – The Inland Revenue Board (IRB) reminds the public to be wary of the Macau Scam fraud syndicate that impersonates its officials and deceives many victims through phone calls.
The IRB in a statement on Monday insisted that matters related to taxation will not be discussed through personal phone calls, instead any requests for information from taxpayers and instructions for payment of outstanding taxes will be done regularly through letters or official emails using the domain @hasil.gov.my .
The IRB said that according to information from the Commercial Crime Investigation Department of the Royal Malaysian Police, a total of 556 cases involving losses of more than RM15.26 million related to the Macau Scam impersonating IRB officers were investigated for the period from January 1 to 27 this year.
The modus operandi used by the scammer is to contact the victim through a phone call by introducing himself as an IRB official, then stating that the victim’s company or business still has tax arrears that must be settled.
“Victims who are confused by these calls usually make a denial and then the call will be connected to an individual who impersonates the police, an official from the Bank Negara or an official from another enforcement agency and forces the victim to make an official report,” said the IRB.
“Victims are then linked to money laundering, drug trafficking or other criminal activities to the extent that victims become panicked and are asked to hand over banking information including TAC or OTP numbers,” he said.
According to LHDN, the victims first realized they were being scammed when they found that the money in their account had been transferred to a third party bank account and the suspect could not be contacted again.
In this regard, the public is advised to be more careful and confirm with the IRB first of all suspicious calls, e-mails and letters by contacting the Hasil Care Line or official lines whose list can be checked on the official portal www.hasil.gov .my or come to the nearest LHDN branch.
The IRB also reminded taxpayers to ensure that payments related to taxes such as income tax and real estate profit tax are made in the name of the Director General of the IRB or IRB while stamp duty tax is paid to the stamp duty collector. – Bernama
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