KUALA LUMPUR, 22 April 2022: In a bid to spread awareness about crime of vehicle theft and vehicle safety, Vehicle Theft Reduction Council of Malaysia (VTREC) in collaboration with Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) Bukit Aman and PUSPAKOM Sdn Bhd (PUSPAKOM) have kicked off a thirty-minute Facebook (FB) Live session discussing on tips to avoid becoming a victim of scammers and purchasing illegal spare parts as well as the safety of vehicle on the road in conjunction with Hari Raya Aidilfitri. The theme of the FB Live session was “Scammer and Danger of Illegal Spare Parts”.
YBrs Puan Mas Tina Abdul Hamid, Co-ordinator of VTREC (centre), YBhg Dato’ Ooi Win Juat, Head of Marketing and Advisory, PUSPAKOM Sdn Bhd (left) and YDH Tuan DSP Mohd Syafiq Jinuin Abdullah, Senior Investigation Officer, Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) Bukit Aman (right) answering questions from participants
The FB Live session is an online feedback channels provided by VTREC for Hari Raya Aidilfitri advices and tips for those planning to purchase particularly used vehicle spare parts or purchasing vehicles online and the safety of vehicle on the road in conjunction with Hari Raya Aidilfitri festivity in particular.
The session is comprised of experts across their field namely YBrs Puan Mas Tina Abdul Hamid, Co-ordinator of VTREC, YBhg Dato’ Ooi Win Juat, Head of Marketing and Advisory, PUSPAKOM Sdn Bhd and YDH Tuan DSP Mohd Syafiq Jinuin Abdullah , Senior Investigation Officer, Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) who discussed various aspects of vehicle theft, vehicles online purchasing, inspections and genuinity of vehicle spare parts and safety of vehicle on the road including risk exposure of purchasing stolen vehicle and stolen vehicle parts.
YBrs Puan Mas Tina Abdul Hamid delivering her advice and tips in responding to questions forwarded by the participants
In regard to public perception of vehicle theft, Puan Mas Tina highlighted that the mentality and behaviour of vehicle owners have positively changed against vehicle theft lately, people have shown that they do care about their vehicle, this somehow or rather contributed to the reduction of vehicle theft rate in Malaysia. Puan Mas Tina in answering the questions about what other initiatives by VTREC besides FB lives shared that VTREC also collaborates with PDRM upon public engagement like Vehicle Theft Awareness Campaigns and Webinars during the pandemic. In additional, Puan Mas Tina also talks about why are there still demand on illegal or fake spare parts even though it is clearly dangerous to be used, she mentions that some may purchase these fake spare parts due to the lower price offered on the parts, others may purchase due to it being easier to get compare to the authentic spare parts. To that, Puan Mas Tina advised to not be deceived by the low price of spare parts as the damage that it could bring to the vehicles may cause us to spent more than necessary on repairs.
Panellists with VTREC’s Team.
Sitting: YBrs Puan Mas Tina Abdul Hamid, Co-ordinator of VTREC (centre), YBhg Dato’ Ooi Win Juat, Head of Marketing and Advisory, PUSPAKOM Sdn Bhd (left) and YDH Tuan DSP Mohd Syafiq Jinuin Abdullah, Senior Investigation Officer, Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) Bukit Aman (right). Standing: Encik Muhammad Alif Mohd Adnan, Executive Officer of VTREC and Puan Afif Aliyana Abu Fitri, Executive Officer of VTREC.
The second panellists, YBhg Dato’ Ooi Win Juat highlighted the importance of purchasing authentic vehicle spare parts as illegal or fake spare parts cause severe damage to the vehicle in case of road accidents or crash hence making it unsafe for road users. He brings forward some of the many examples of the danger using fake spare parts on vehicles. YBhg Dato’ also shared how by getting vehicle inspections done at PUSPAKOM can help to identify whether or not the vehicle is a stolen vehicle or not, adding to that, he mentions that PUSPAKOM offers free service for vehicle owners to voluntarily send their vehicle for inspection in conjunction with Hari Raya Aidilfitri in all 54 PUSPAKOM’s branches all around Malaysia except for Shah Alam and Pasir Gudang Branch from 17 April 2022 until 29 April 2022. The service will only take about half an hour, he said, “all you need to do is book an appointment at any PUSPAKOM branches now.”
YBhg Dato’ Ooi Win Juat delivering her advice and tips in responding to questions forwarded by the participants.
The third Panellist, YDH Tuan DSP Mohd Syafiq Jinuin bin Abdullah whose current research is on online frauds and scams involving vehicles, speaks about how the behavior of people regarded as one the main factors why do people fall prey to these online scams, making hasty decisions during online purchasing without checking for example the source of the browser or the seller’s identity could lead into being scam victims. YDH Tuan Mohd Syafiq also talks about how people are unsensitive to the current issues of online scams and frauds that has become a trend as the cases has been rising during these past years. Ignorance has also been commonly associated to people fall victim to scam resulted from being ignorant, naïve or greedy.
YDH Tuan DSP Mohd Syafiq delivering her advice and tips in responding to questions forwarded by the participants.
Additionally, YDH Tuan DSP Mohd Syafiq mentions the modus operandi used by scammers to trap victims into transferring money into their account, he reminds how most online purchase does not provide a secure platform for money transferring hence beware when making online purchases. Towards the end of his sessions, he advised everyone to not make hasty decision, think of the consequences of decisions made and to use the application “Semak Mule” (to check scammers) developed by CCID to facilitate the public to verify bank account or telephone number of the suspect has a police record or not before making online purchase.
Puan Mas Tina presented appreciations to YBhg Dato’ Ooi Win Juat of PUSPAKOM Sdn Bhd witnessed by Puan Afif Aliyana
