"hello, your daughter has been kidnapped...."

from the e-mail:

Dear all

I cannot stop myself from sharing this with all of you.
It all started when I received a call from someone who claimed that he was from Maxis, asking me to shutdown my phone for 2 to 3 hours for 3G update
to take place.

As I was rushing for a meeting, I did not question about the shutdown of my cell
phone.
After 45 minutes, I felt very suspicious since the caller did not even
introduce his name.


I quickly turned my cell phone back on and I received several numbers of missed calls; few from my family members and
the other numbers was from the number that called me earlier : 3954380.

I called my parents and I was shocked that they sounded very worried, asking
me whether I am safe. My parents told me that they received a call from
someone who claimed that they have me with them and asking for money to set me free. The call was so real and my parents even heard my voice crying out loud asking for help.


My parents was at the bank waiting for the next call to proceed with the money transfer. I told my parents that I am safe and asked them to lodge a police report.


Right after that I received again, a call from the same guy asking me
to shutdown my cell phone for another 1 hour, which this time I refused to do so and hung up.. They kept calling my cell phone until my battery went dead. I, myself lodged a police report and was informed by the police officer that this kind of scam has always been reported. In most cases, the victim's family have already transferred the money! And it is impossible to get back the money.
Banks can only return back the money if the owner of the account agreed
to do so or there is a court order.

So guys, be careful of this kind of scam!!! Those guys are so professional and very convincing during the calls. If you were asked to shutdown your cell phone for any updates by the service provider, ASK AROUND! Your friends should receive the same call too.


Any Customer Service would introduce their NAME AT THE BEGINNING of the
call. Ignore them if you don't get a name at the beginning of the call.

If you received instructions from unrecognized number/person that you are not sure, make your own judgment.


The BEST is DO NOT RESPOND.
If you cannot pickup your loved one's call, DO GIVE A CALLBACK
immediately! Update your loved one with ALTERNATE CONTACTS.
If you think you are SMART and cannot be cheated, You are wrong!
Be Safe and Stay Alert!