No clicks, no apps but still scammed: Fraudsters can exploit through calls, social media interactions

Kong (right) with Chan.

By DayakDaily Team

KUCHING, May 4: What began as a simple request for home-cooked food turned into a financial nightmare for a woman after she discovered unauthorised transactions in her savings and credit card accounts—underscoring a new wave of scams in which fraudsters exploit vulnerabilities through seemingly harmless interactions like phone calls or social media engagement.

According to Michael Kong, who is the special assistant to Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman Chong Chieng Jen, the victim—known as ‘Madam Chan’—was browsing Facebook when an advertisement promoting home-cooked food caught her interest.

She then contacted the alleged vendor via WhatsApp call, who insisted on sending her a menu, but she declined as she already had a specific dish in mind and eventually ended the call out of frustration when the vendor persisted.

“However, within minutes, she noticed that her phone began behaving abnormally. Shortly after, her son informed her that multiple contacts had received messages from her number requesting money,” he said in a statement.

Alarmed, Chan contacted her bank and discovered three unauthorised transactions from her savings account and one from her credit card account.

Despite lodging a dispute with the bank, her claim was rejected on the basis that her user identification (ID) and password were used to access her account, and that her device ‘may have been compromised due to malware’.

“This explanation is deeply unsatisfactory. Madam Chan has categorically stated that she did not download any applications or click on any links. The only interaction she had was a WhatsApp call with the alleged scammer.

“This raises serious concerns about the evolving tactics of scammers, who may now be capable of exploiting vulnerabilities through seemingly harmless interactions such as calls or social media engagement,” he said.

He added that the case highlights a new wave of scams, where fraudsters are becoming increasingly technologically sophisticated, potentially gaining access to devices without the victim knowingly downloading anything.

“We are currently assisting Madam Chan in appealing to the Financial Markets Ombudsman Services to challenge the bank’s decision and to seek a fair resolution.

“At the same time, I urge members of the public to exercise extreme caution when encountering advertisements on platforms such as Facebook. Even seemingly legitimate offers, such as food sales or services, may be entry points for scammers,” he said.

Kong also warned that scammers are constantly evolving, and traditional assumptions about how scams work are no longer sufficient.

“What may appear to be a simple phone call could now be part of a larger phishing or device-compromise scheme.

“Financial institutions must also step up in addressing these cases with greater accountability, especially where there is clear evidence that victims played no part in the compromise of their own security,” he said. — DayakDaily