The Robbery Using Fake TNB Notice Debunked!

Dr. Adrian Wong

6 years ago

In 2016, Malaysians were set abuzz by a new method purportedly used by robbers to gain entry into houses – using a fake TNB notice. Let’s find out what happened, and whether it’s true.

Note : For foreigners reading this post, TNB is short for Tenaga Nasional Berhad, the national electricity provider in Peninsular Malaysia.

The Fake TNB Notice

On the 11th of August, 2016, a lady came back to find a TNB notice on her gate. It was a Locked House Feedback notice that is issued when TNB employees cannot access the TNB meter. It asked that she please call them to make an appointment so they can finish the job.

She called TNB, only to discover that it was a fake TNB notice. Apparently, she was told that it was a new way for robbers to get into her house to rob her. That’s when she took this photo of the fake TNB notice and posted it online.

Needless to say, this went viral on Facebook and WhatsApp groups. Here is a recent example that surfaced in 2017, but could have been circulating earlier.

But guess what – that is NOT a fake TNB notice. Let us debunk this “fake TNB notice”.

The Fake TNB Letter = Just A Recycled Form

Although most people just oohed and ahhed, before clicking the Share button, some netizens took the effort of actually contacting TNB about this. Here is a reply one lady received from the TNB Careline team :

Good morning puan,

the form which has gone viral was used by kl utara upj team for cases when to test meter/change meter/ no meter display from smp complains. If customer is not around, upj team will leave this form for the customer to call n make another appointment.

When kl utara was closed down, 1klcam were still using the form but the kl utara address will chopped with new address as below. In this case the team leader did not rechop the form n issued the original form.
Ramesh is a upj team leader in kepong.

The premise whereby the form was issued was from IR complain frm meter reader…tiada paparan. Ramesh went to check the meter with work order 30.

Immediate action: No more recycling this form with new chop. Discard and make new firms with current 1klcam chop.

In other words, the fake TNB notice is actually a recycled form from the (now closed) KL Utara TNB team. The TNB team leader just forgot to stamp the form with the new 1KLCAM address.

It Was Just A Case Of Miscommunication

Whoever informed the lady who received that “fake TNB notice” that it was a new method used by robbers to gain entry into houses probably assumed that might be the case. After all, TNB PJ Utara no longer exists.

Since the post were viral, TNB had to issue a press release on the matter. Check it out :

For those who cannot understand Malay, here is the English translation :

TNB Clarifies Social Media Post On The “Locked House Feedback” Notice

Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) denies the social media post on the “Locked House Feedback” notice as a fake TNB notice used in robberies.

It is actually a notice issued by a TNB employee from the TNB Kuala Lumpur Meter Unit as a standard procedure, according to Deputy General Manager (Customer Service), Ir. Kamaliah Abdul Kadir.

“It was issued when the employee could not access the TNB meter due to a locked gate or other impediments.”

She added that the notice was using the address of a now-closed TNB office, and it will be discarded to avoid confusion.

Customers are advised not to share the post because it has caused the officer whose name was written on the notice to be harassed.

Customers are also advised to contact TNB customer service officers at 1-300-88-5454, or the nearest TNB office, if they receive any suspicious notice.

STOP Sharing The Post About The Fake TNB Letter

Ramesh, the TNB team leader whose name was written on the post, is being harassed by keyboard warriors. So please STOP sharing the debunked post on the “fake TNB notice”. It’s NOT fake.

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