Volatile Yard 挥洒自如 Write anything I want to write...

Somebody tried to scam me over phone two days ago. These people earn their livings by cheating, and are totally hopeless!

I'm using a DiGi postpaid package only for registered companies. Two days ago I got a call to my mobile phone from a phone number 'Withheld', meaning that he has hidden his phone number. That alerted me a bit. I picked up call.

He said something and I only managed to catch a phrase "DiGi". I would say that the English pronunciation of the guy was quite lousy, so I couldn't catch the sentence much. That alerted me again: Some operator from DiGi can't even speak average English? This is rather abnormal in Malaysia. (Of course I didn't blame DiGi, because I suspected and later confirmed that he was not from DiGi. More about this later.) So I asked "Sorry?", and he immediately asked me in Chinese, "How about speaking in Chinese? Do you speak Chinese?" Asked me as if he changed the language for me. Anyway I said ok.

I soon realized that his Chinese pronunciation was quite accurate and just 'too good'. The terms he used were unconventional in Malaysia, and his Chinese pronunciation was so accurate that only few Malaysians would speak so. His accent didn't sound like a Malaysian too. All these alerted me: This was 99% a scam! He said that DiGi needed to update its database for companies, and asked me some questions. I told him that there were no changes for the particular of the company I used for registering my postpaid package. After finding out that he couldn't get more information from me, he asked me if i was in charge of the company. I said no, and he said that they could only speak to the person-in-charge. I asked him to call somebody else later, and we hanged up.

I made a few mistakes here. For example, I should check more details about him, like what number I should use to call him back? Why is his number private? I was a bit blurred... Ai... I should do all these if it indeed happens next time. (Touch wood! Hopefully no next time!)

After hanging up the phone, I dialed to the DiGi helpline to speak to an operator. I told him about the case and checked with him if it was a scam. Yes, indeed. DiGi never hides its office number. They rarely performed such update unless something happened. (E.g., I guess, in some unusual situation like I didn't pay my phone bill.) The operator said that, if I got any call that claimed to be from DiGi again, asked the person's identity, which department he worked, what was the extension number I can reach him, etc. I can always call DiGi to verify if the person really works in DiGi before giving any information.

I alerted others who use the numbers in the package. Later, the person did call somebody else in the company, but the latter missed the call. There was no way to call him back because his number was private, and we didn't receive any call from him again.

Be careful!