M’sian Shares How She Was Hypnotised By Scam Caller, Transfers RM12k To Him | #socialmedia | #hacking | #aihp

Calls from scammers are getting more and more frequent and they’re getting increasingly creative to get their victims to fall for their scams. Some scammers aren’t even trying to trick their victims anymore as they’re opting to use hypnotism.

Penelope (name changed for privacy purposes) took to her social media to share how she was hypnotised into transferring money to a scammer after she had answered a phone call from a scammer claiming to be with the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN).

She wrote, “On 25 May, around 11am, I received an automated phone call from LHDN regarding unpaid taxes. Seeing that I have had recent past conversations with LHDN on the phone regarding my company’s tax issues, I figured the call was related to that”.

But she regrets not checking the phone number first before proceeding with the call, adding that another mistake she made was not having the Truecaller application on her phone. Without even realising it, she was soon allegedly hypnotised by the caller.

“I stayed on the line to talk to the officer and that was when I believe I was hypnotised. To make it short, without realising it, I was already on the phone with the scammer for 3 hours, I disclosed all private details regarding my business, home address and more, walked to the ATM while being on the phone with him, and transferred money to the scammer,”

“He told me what to do from the beginning, to the point where I keyed in the account number as instructed, and just like that, I transferred RM12,000 to him”, she explained.

While hypnotised, she followed the scammer’s instruction to a tee. Penelope had also sent the scammer a confirmation of the transfer with a receipt and the scammer even continued to toy with her after.

“The scammer did not block me right away, instead, he proceeded to still text me over unnecessary stuff and created small talk too. He even insisted that he’ll call me again later at night to ‘discuss something important’.”

In the end, it took Penelope 8 hours to snap out of it 

“8 hours later, I went out for dinner with my parents at around 8:30pm and that was when I was finally ‘conscious’ and aware of what happened,”

“I felt so panicked and straight away checked my bank account balance, and that was when I realised I gave my money away. I did not remember anything about the bank transfer until 8 hours later”, she added.

She hopes that by sharing her story, the general public will become more aware of all these different methods scammers are using and will be more careful in the future.

She shared with WORLD OF BUZZ that there hasn’t been any follow ups since the incident took place but she feels traumatised every time she walks past the ATM.

“It’s crazy how these people can capitalise on our fears just through the phone. I hope sharing this will help you all to be more cautious and aware in the future”, she shared.

What do you think about this? Let us know in the comment section.

Also read: BEWARE: Scammers Are Calling Victims From “PDRM Station” Phone Numbers To Deceive Them!