Bukit Aman’s commercial crime investigation department director Ramli Yoosuf said the syndicate offered the fake service with a discount of 20-30% through Facebook.

Victims were requested to call a telephone number before sending a photo of the outstanding bill.

“The syndicate would then send a photo of the receipt purporting that the bill had been settled and instruct the victim to transfer money to an individual bank account.

“After the transfer, the victims realised they had been cheated as the (TNB) bill was still outstanding,” he said at his office here today.

On another matter, Ramli said that since the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) was established on Oct 12, 2022, 11,000 victims had failed to make a police report after reporting to the centre.

This had resulted in some of the blocked money not being processed or returned to the rightful owners.

“Victims who call the NSRC regarding fraud cases must file a police report so that sanctions and refund actions can be completed,” said Ramli.

He said from Oct 12, 2022 until July this year, RM46 million was blocked by the NSRC. Out of this amount, RM510,000 was returned to the victims.

He warned people not to be fooled by “agents” who offered “short cuts” and claimed they could obtain the money they had lost from the NSRC.

He said the victims could only claim the money three to six months after making a police report and after court proceedings, which they may have to attend.