Published: Thursday March 1, 2012 MYT 5:46:00 PM

Cops identify syndicate using sound of crying child to dupe parents

By STEVEN DANIEL

PETALING JAYA: Police have identified a syndicate that uses the sound of a crying child to dupe parents into believing their child had been kidnapped and gets them to pay ransom.

Only later do the parents realise the child had been safe in school, all along.

Serdang Commercial Crimes Investigation department chief Asst Supt Azani Saupi said his men had identified the syndicate that had tricked at least four victims into handing over a total sum of RM57,000.

“After the victims bank in or place the money in a specified post box, there is no communication. Only later do they realise their children had been safe in school,” he said during a press conference at the Serdang district police headquarters on Thursday.

He said parents, who receive the purported kidnapper's call, hear a crying child and immediately panic into thinking it was their child and follow instructions from the syndicate without double checking to ascertain if their child had indeed been abducted.

ASP Azani said investigations revealed the syndicate did background checks on their victims such as the way the children call their parents.

He said the syndicate had been active since early last year and police believe that at least six other parents had been approached by the same syndicate but had not fallen for their trick.

He advised parents to check with the school or alert the police immediately when they receive such calls.

Meanwhile, ASP Azani revealed that a total of 24 police reports were received about cases of African parcel scams totalling RM331,500 last year in the Serdang area alone.

He said the victims had dealing with the syndicate to obtain items such as a property or jewellery but had to fork out large sum of cash for purported documentation purposes.

“There was even a case last year where a Dutch man lost RM600,000 after he was promised a local woman as a wife,” he said.

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