Prime Minister Hun Sen has appealed to people to be wary of Telegram scams after a user of the messaging app – who impersonated prominent local businessman Khun Sea – sent him a message asking him to transfer money. SPM
Prime Minister Hun Sen has appealed to people to be wary of Telegram scams after a user of the messaging app – who impersonated prominent local businessman Khun Sea – sent him a message asking him to transfer money.
Hun Sen made the appeal in a more than two-minute audio address to the Cambodian public.
“Now, there are scams and this just happened to me around one hour ago. An English-language message was sent to me asking me to transfer money to the account of Okhna Khun Sea,” he said using the businessman’s honorific.
“But the phone number used was a number in Laos and according to our research, the person is in Taiwan. But he sent me the message via Telegram and used the account in order to ask people to send money,” he added.
The premier called on people to be wary of scams or unfamiliar people, advising them to check on the identity of the sender to avoid falling victim.
“Maybe the scammers were not aware that the recipient of their message was the prime minister,” he joked.
National Police spokesman Chhay Kim Khoeun said such scams, including the attempt aimed at the prime minster, was under investigation.
“We will do this investigation quietly, so we don’t want to identify this person yet, because if we announce it the offender will escape,” he said.
Telegram scams are not a new phenomenon. Many social media users, including some government officials, have fallen victim to them. The scams cost people some of their money and pride and usually involve imposters using hacked accounts or creating fake accounts to deceive people.
In August of 2022, a similar case occurred when Telegram accounts for the prime minster and his family members were created by unidentified persons overseas to deceive others.
Ministry of Post and Telecommunications spokesman So Visothy and Sok Nitya, director of the National Police’s Anti-Technology Crime Department, could not be reached for comment on March 13.
Recently, the ministry issued a notification on measures to prevent Telegram attacks by scammers using fake accounts in the name of Cambodia’s top leaders.
The notice instructed the users on methods to protect their accounts and themselves from falling victim to the scams. The ministry also advised those victims to file a complaint with the relevant institutions.
“Users have to verify and check accounts, especially if the first message sent though the account has the names and the photos of a leader or any familiar persons.
“The users have to check the content of the message sent and be careful about any attached files. If in doubt, contact familiar persons by other means such as phoning the person. If we know that the message is not from a real account, we can block the account,” the ministry said.
