Beware Of Scammer!
Chronological Of Events 06-09-2012
2:37pm A missed call from +862128913333
2:38pm The call from the same number again. Hesitate, want to take it or not? Then finally out of curiosity I decided to answer the call. A lady accent sound like Chinese or (Vietnamese) identified herself that she is calling from PayPal. She also mentioned that this conversation is recorded. The surprising and scary thing is she even knew my phone number, my email account that I have used on PayPal transaction and she inform me that I did not verified the account.
(Which is NOT! As far I knew, I have verified it when I open the account)
On hearing this I am positioning myself in protecting mode and be cautious while I listening on what she going to say. Realising that there is a Debit Card I have not yet verified, I lied to her. “I am not in front of the computer and I will do so when I am online.” And she is insisting me doing it right the moment. She said she will call me back later on for some information.
This really pissed me off and I lie to her that I am currently not having any internet connection and asked her back “How do I verify?” (The truth is that moment, I am actually online) She said she will call me back. Hearing this I already lost my patient and I “blasted” her.
“I told you that I will do the verification when I am login in later and I don’t know when I am online. Now I am outside and there is no computer in front of me. So you tell me how do I verify? Now wait a minute…. even I have verified it then why should I tell you? I don’t know you and I don’t even know that if you are really from PayPal. It just that you said so, on what reason I should believe you? With so many scammers out there nowadays do I really trust you?”
“Do you really from PayPal? When I am done with the verification, the PayPal system will inform me about it. If you are really from PayPal, then you should know that. No need for you to call me back. “
I guessed that really caught her red handed (if she is a scammer) and I hanged up.
2:50pm I enter the number 862128913333 and start Google about it. (You can try if you want to!) Guess what, as expected it lead me to many “scam warning” website. It said the number was originate from China. Surprisingly if you really checked on the posted date, some post was posted as early as 2007. My goodness… if this is a scam why this number can last till today and yet still active?
When I go through some of the sites, some said it is really from PayPal. Some said it is not. Who do you want to believe? Some suggested that you call PayPal to clarify if it is really from PayPal. I guess this is the best idea. Since I don’t have PayPal Malaysia phone number I began to search for “paypal malaysia phone number” and found this number (603-77237155) from a website.
I noted it down and called this number. I did not pay attention on the voice messages nor did I “heard” PayPal Malaysia as I am busy checking whois.com on the domain name that provide the number. A guy was answering my call. Sound like an Indian? Local? From India? Not very sure. He requested for my email so he can check who is calling me.
Before I tell him the email address, pop out in front of me the website registered owner was from China. My goodness… it this really a scam syndicate or what. First I got a call from China then when I Google for PayPal Malaysia number, I got the number (I am calling) from a site register to an owner from China. Is this a coincidence of what?
(For some reason I will not disclose the website name as I don’t know if it belong the scam syndicate of belong to some bloggers. What if it belong to some bloggers that not related to any scam syndicate then I have wrongly accuse them?)
I told the guy that it is OK, I will call back again if I want to check the number from whom and hanged up.
3:21pm I called RHB Bank Customer Service (0392068228) for PayPal Malaysia number. The reason I called RHB is because my Debit Card was issued by them. Miss Hafizah really help me a lot. Thank you. I told her my brief encounter with the 862128913333 number and told her the reason why I did not verified my Debit Card with PayPal.
She told me that PayPal will not send OTP (One Time Password) to me if it is for Debit Card verification.I need to call RHB for the OTP code. PayPal only send OTP for the credit card verification. No wonder I have been waited for the OTP on my phone and it did not arrive. She gave me the OTP code and phone number of PayPal Malaysia. The number is (0377237155) YES! It is the same number I have called before.
I told Hafizah that they are requesting me for my email account. She told me that what PayPal will do and I should give it when calling them up. I thank her for the information she have provided.
4:52pm I called this number (0377237155) for the 2nd time. This time I really paid attention and I heard the voice messages (talking about PayPal Malaysia) giving me the instructions on what number to press in order to reach the department I want and so on. When connected this time around, the customer service is a local Chinese lady.
She asked me to give her the email address (the one I have used for PayPal account) I told her as required and then she requested me of the last 4 digits. I am quite hesitate and asked her why. I told her that even PayPal have sent email to me before, mentioning that I should not give out password – not even to their own staff! I also done this on purpose so that I can pissed her off a while.
By the way the last 4 digits is not a password for my account. It just the last 4 digits number of my RHB Bank Debit Card.
She told me that if I don’t, she can’t access to my PayPal account. Then she did some verification with me. I told her everything of my short encounter with the 862128913333 how I Google that number, where the search lead me to (the scam warning sites.. bla.. bla etc) I asked if this number is from PayPal. She said as far as she knew “This number is NOT belong to PayPal!“
I told her that when I called in the 1st time, the guy told me that he can’t tell me if is from PayPal (because I did not give him the email) Then I asked this lady if she have computer that can access to Google so that she can search for the number. She told me that she will divert me to investigation team.
[Music, songs] [Waiting] [Waiting….] and finally heard her voice, “I am sorry that I can’t reach them” and I am a little bit piss off this time and talk in increase tune. Sound angry I said, “So who the heck is this person called me to claim that she is from PayPal? She even knew the email I using on my PayPal! If not from PayPal then how come she have my email? If she is from PayPal what the heck she need to call me?”
Once again I asked her if she have the computer right in front of her so she can Google on to see what I have been talking about. I assumed she don’t have the computer and she also got piss off by my instructions. Her voice tune have increased as well but finally she agree to direct me to the investigation team again.
[Music, songs] [Waiting]… and a Chinese guy on the line. I have to tell him the whole story all over again and he said he will take note of it for further investigation. He told me that he is sure that the number not belong to PayPal. [He did not sound serious to me] I got piss off again and blasted him.
This time I really want him to Google by my instructions to see what I have found. How I stumble the website that have PayPal Malaysia number, whois the owner of the site, just to show him that it is registered from China and this time he followed my instructions. If not I will blast him off nicely.
To finalize it, these are the action need to be done if you have the some suspicious number calling you up
- Google on the suspicious phone number. See if it lead to any scam warning sites.
- Google your local PayPal office number. If you are suspicious about the number, call your Debit Card Issuer Bank to ask them for the PayPal office number. Compare the one you have obtained from the bank with the one you have found online. If it it the same, then it is genuine. The best secure method is always get the contact number from PayPal.com site. PayPal site always start with https://www.paypal.com
- Call up PayPal and inform them what you are suspicious. Give them whatever information you have so that they can investigate.
So everybody out there that are using PayPal now or going to open a new one soon, “Beware Of Scammer” !! If in doubt, then do at least some of the things I have done above to protect your account. To safe guard is to protect your $$$$$ in your PayPal.