‘D-Gs do not text people for money’
Dr Noor Hisham impersonated by online would-be scammer
PETALING JAYA: A Facebook user has been impersonating Health Ministry director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in hopes of earning quick cash.
In one Facebook post, Dr Noor Hisham said the imposter sent inappropriate messages to nurses and even asked people for money.
The imposter went by the name “Abdullah Hisham Noor” while Dr Noor Hisham’s official Facebook account and page are “Hisham Abdullah” and “Noor Hisham Abdullah” respectively.
When contacted by The Star, Dr Noor Hisham disclosed that one nurse received a personal message from the imposter asking for her phone number, and she obliged, thinking that it was really Dr Noor Hisham.
The next day, she received a WhatsApp message from a phone number with Dr Noor Hisham as its profile picture.
A few days later, she received a message from the same number asking for RM3,000.
Suspecting that something was amiss, she called the number and realised that the man who answered had a foreign accent.
She ticked off the man and lodged a police report.
Dr Noor Hisham said the fake Facebook page had since been taken down.
He urged members of the public to be vigilant of fake social media accounts.
“Such an incident can happen to anyone, on whatever form of social media we use.
“Netizens must not believe everything blindly,” he said, adding that it was absurd that a director-general would ask for money through social media.