Awie advises scammers to stop conning public; find other jobs

KUALA PERLIS - Rock legend Datuk Awie advised youths involved in scam syndicates to find other jobs that have a future.

Awie, whose real name is Ahmad Azhar Othman, said that based on police information, most of the scammers were youths and had been trained by syndicates to dupe victims through phone calls.

"Before this, I was contacted by them, youths aged 21 to 23, several times through phone calls.

"When they failed to con me, they argued with me and hurled abusive words," he told reporters while attending the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) 2022 Perlis Police Contingent Anti-Scam Campaign at Brasmana Hotel, last night.

Also present were Perlis deputy police chief, SAC Baderulhisham Baharudin, the Crime Prevention and Community Safety Department’s principal assistant director (Land Operations), SAC Jamel Salleh and Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (NCID) assistant director (Financial Crime Investigation/Cooperatives/Insurance/Banking), ACP Mazelan Paijan.

Awie recalled before ending the phone conversation, he had advised them to stop doing the work and imagine if their immediate family members suffered a loss of tens of thousands of ringgit as a result of being victims of a fraud syndicate.

"Dissatisfied with my advice, they disturbed me 20 to 30 times a day but I just ignored them,” he said.

He added that the task of combating fraudulent activities should not be placed on the shoulders of the police alone, as it was the responsibility of all Malaysians.

"Hopefully, with this joint effort, we can eliminate this crime," he said.

He also advised everyone, regardless of age or employment background, to be extra vigilant when receiving phone calls, and not to easily believe offers given by strangers to avoid becoming a victim of fraud.

Awie, along with 35 high-powered motorcyclists, participated in an anti-scam awareness campaign tour throughout the Peninsula, which took place in three phases; the first phase starting yesterday (July 19) until July 22, covering four states in the north of the Peninsula, namely Kedah, Perak, Penang and Perlis.

Meanwhile, Baderulhisham, in his speech, said that according to statistics recorded by the Perlis Contingent’s Commercial Crime Investigation Department, 998 commercial crime cases were recorded from 2020 to June 2022 with a loss of RM 15.8 million, and of the total, 969 cases were online fraud crime.

He said that the use of technology in daily affairs had indirectly resulted in the emergence of new forms of crime that were more complex and global, and required more serious attention from the community.

"The PDRM Anti-Scam Campaign 2022 is a continuation of the fraud prevention programme by the police, which aims to provide exposure and increase public awareness on the threat of scammers, so as not to become victims or involved in syndicate activities,” he said.

He added that the campaign will be held throughout July, with content through exhibitions, talks, interviews and programmes to address the modus operandi of fraud crimes detected by the police, as well as providing tips on the best way to avoid becoming a victim.

"The direct involvement of the community in this campaign is very important in further increasing the understanding of commercial crime prevention, especially online fraud. The information and crime prevention advice provided by the police must be fully utilised, so that it is not easy to panic and be deceived by various tricks and creative fraud tactics used by syndicates,” he said. - BERNAMA