Public told to be wary of syndicates claiming to be from court

KUCHING: The Chief Registrar’s Office of the Federal Court of Malaysia ( PKPMP) has detected several attempts by irresponsible parties to deceive the public by randomly making phone calls or sending emails claiming to represent a court.

A statement yesterday said among the methods used by these rogue syndicates include contacting victims to ‘inform’ them that have a summons against them and are required to appear immediately in court.

“The victim will be told to press the connection number to speak with a superior officer for further inquiries, and will be asked to confirm their personal information such as address, identity card number, date of birth and more.

“The victim will be told they had been subpoenaed to appear in court or face arrest.

“The victim will also be told that they had a debt and to settle the debt, the victim has to pay a sum of money to the syndicate.”

Another tactic used is by syndicates was contacting victims through email saying the Court had confirmed the victim was a legitimate heir to inherit property amounting to millions of ringgit.

The victim would then be instructed to pay various ‘fees’ in order for the inheritance of the property to be processed promptly.

The PKPMP statement went on to advise the public to be careful when receiving phone calls, particularly from unknown numbers or from those claiming to be from the court.

“Do not call the phone number provided by any person, and do not give your personal information to suspicious parties over the telephone.

“It is important to note that any subpoena will only be handed over by personal service or by hand, and you are required to sign the receipt of the subpoena. Subpoena submissions may only be made by the police for criminal matters and law firms for matters other than crime.

“Make a police report at a nearby police station and take precautions in the future if you receive similar calls again.”

The statement emphasised that the court will not arbitrarily make telephone calls to members of the public.